Shooting Stars
by Cicero-Phelps
Summary: Robotech A/U...what if Lisa, Rick, and the crew were all college friends who graduated ROTC together and went on to glory? Graduation day at last...but now what happens? Note: I do NOT own Robotech/Macross. If I did, I'd be rich.
1. Any Given Friday

Shooting Stars

_By CiceroPhelps and Knights Templar_

The warm sum beat down on his back and he could feel the dark fabric pull in the heat and warm his back quickly. The padding he wore on his shoulders only made him hotter and the sweat began to bead on his brow and back. The helmets padding began to stick to his head and he could feel his hair grow damp. He closed his eyes and envisioned his attack. He thought a moment and came up with the perfect attack.

He looked at all the other men there and told them what to do. They fanned out and took their positions. He walked up to the line and looked around to make sure that everyone was where they were supposed to be. He looked to the right and saw that one of his men was not in a favorable position and he gave him a signal and motioned him to the other side. He gave the line and his men a once over again and felt good with their positions.

He placed his hands under center, and barked out a cadence to make sure that the defense didn't key in on his commands and get a good jump on his linemen. "Hut one, hut two, hike!" Rick yelled and the center snapped the ball. Rick moved back in the pocket, looking over the field and checking his receivers.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a defensive back running towards him, and Rick looked to his slot receiver and threw it. He followed the ball and watched his receiver make the catch and fight for a few yards. He trotted up to the end of the play and yelled out some commands. The team got into formation. He took the snap and handed the ball of to his tail back, then watched as he cut hard and gained five, six yards before being brought down.

Rick kept up the pressure with the two-minute drill, keeping the tired opposing defense on the field and his revved up offense on the field. He ran back to the line and the referee blew the whistle. He looked around and saw that the Navy ROTC coach had called a time out. Rick looked down field and saw that they were on the Navy thirty-one yard line. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. As he did so he noticed a girl over in the Navy cheerleading section and before he knew it, he was thinking about how attractive she was. He walked back over to the huddle and looked at the men there.

"Alright boys, I say we go for the homerun here. I'm tired of messing around with these pukes and I just want to get off the field, we need a breather." They all nodded, and Rick tried to think of a play. He finally got one and looked at the others in the huddle. Rick looked at Rodney and smiled, "We're going to go with a P.A. 138 WR Cross. Rodney, it's you, I'm aiming for you over the middle, their regular starting safety is out and I want to take advantage of the back up." Rodney smiled and they broke out of the huddle.

Rodney split out wide to the left and looked at the man lining up opposite of him. The cornerback gave him a nasty look and told Rodney that he was going to "make that slow ass cracker his bitch," Rodney smiled and looked at him. He was white, and a cracker he may be, but he was by no means slow. Rodney had been going at it slow all day so that when Rick finally decided to go to the vertical passing game (deep downfield throwing) he would be able to torch the man opposite him for a few catches.

Rodney turned his head and focused in on the ball and waited for it to move so he could take off downfield. As he watched the ball, he thought about how he had gotten to this point and why he was playing football when he was in the Air Force ROTC. He shrugged slightly and remembered that is was a requirement for all ROTC male cadets to be involved in some form on extra-curricular activity so that they don't get into too much trouble. He remembered it was Hawaii; there was a lot of "trouble" to be gotten into, mostly the local girls. He saw the ball move and he took off.

The cornerback tried to hold him up at the line, but Rodney was a workout warrior and easily brushed off the stuff attempt. He knocked his man off and ran a few yards up the field and turned and saw that the ball had already been thrown, 'Rick threw is a little early, oh well, gotta make the catch anyway,' Rodney told himself in his head. He looked up and saw that the safety that Rick was trying to take advantage of was already breaking on the ball and was trying to line up Rodney.

He smiled, the man wasn't very tall, and had a small lithe frame that suggested that he was a bit underdeveloped for this sport. Rodney reached out his hand and snagged the ball out of the air using one hand and pulled it in quickly. He lowered his head and made contact with the safety. He spun after the initial hit and spun the poor guy off him. 'Easy as pie,' Rodney thought and took off down the field sprinting as fast as he could to try and beat the other safety to the end zone.

A few yards away, he knew he wasn't going to make it so he decided at that point to try and jump over the man. Rodney timed it and jumped as high as he could and the safety recognizing the move too late could only raise his body up and contort Rodney as he flew through the air. Rodney landed on his back with a thump and got up and saw that he had managed to get into the end zone and he spiked the ball, a no-no in the ROTC games, but he didn't give a shit that was a one helluva play. His teammates ran up and they all exchanged high fives as the ROTC refs penalized his team. It wasn't a big deal, just made the extra point a little less easy.

The offense got to the sideline and all got some water and watched as the AFROTC defense trotted out onto the field and the action resumed. It was mid way into the fourth quarter and the Air Force Cadets were leading over the Navy Cadets. But as the teams watched it became apparent that the Navy team had found an effective way to move the ball and that the lead was about to change again. It didn't take too long after the Air Force Cadets had scored before the Navy Team had retaken the lead.

Rick looked out onto the field with a disgusted look on his face and watched as the Navy Team took a five-point lead. Thirty-five to thirty was the score and there was only four minutes to move the ball downfield and get a touchdown. 'How sad,' thought Rick, 'that the defense had been so porous today that they've let the Squids back into this one?' He shrugged and sighed, it was going to be an interesting last drive. But all he could focus on as he trotted out onto the field was that girl in the cheerleading section.

Lisa tried desperately to pull the pathetic excuse of a skirt farther down her legs so that she was showing so much of her thigh. She screwed up her face in anger and swore to herself that when this was over, Sammy was so dead, and it wasn't going to be funny. Why had she let that little prep talk her into replacing the girl who had broken her leg while trying to make the top of the pyramid? That alone should have told her that this was a bad idea, not to mention an apparently dangerous one at that. Not that she was unfamiliar with skimpy costumes (she was a competitive dancer, after all), but never had she worn anything like this in front of so many people when all she was doing was exposing her backside.

As if Sammy knew that Lisa was secretly fuming at her, she leaned in and pointed out to Lisa that the Quarterback for the Air Force team was checking her out again. Lisa had noticed that before, but she tried not to notice _too_ much because she did have a boyfriend, no matter how much he wasn't as attractive as the Quarterback.

Lisa blushed furiously a little and gave him a look. He was about average height, and looked like he was in good shape. He gave her another look and she could swear that he winked at her before he turned his back and Lisa could read the name on the back of his jersey. 'Hunter,' Lisa told herself, she would have to remember that name. He seemed cute.

Next thing Lisa knew there was the command to start cheering and Lisa reluctantly started cheering. She did as she was told and swore to herself that when this was all over, Sammy would have nowhere to run and Lisa would find her. As the cheering died away she heard some loud noises and watched as Hunter from the other team was running out of bounds he was hit late and thrown near the cheerleaders.

The girls scattered away from him because of the quickness and violence of his sudden appearance. He rolled over and gave a moan and muttered something under his breath. Lisa heard a whistle and watched as the ref went through the motions explaining the fifteen-yard penalty. She saw him open his eyes and he looked at her and smiled. She smiled back without thinking about it and extended a hand to him. He took her hand and jumped up.

"Thanks, cutie," Rick said with a debonair smile that told Lisa all she needed to know about him.

"Your welcome," Lisa told him back with a coy smile playing at the corners of her mouth. The slight smile betrayed what she was thinking. 'Oh god, he is cute, and he is dashing.' Lisa hid her thought from her face and just winked back at him. By this time Karl, Lisa's boyfriend, had rushed over and was getting in Rick's face.

"What're you doing talking to my woman you piece of shit fly boy? If you don't walk away, I'll fuck you up bad." Karl said as he pulled up into Rick's face. Rick backed away and sized up the little man in front of him. Rick was by no means a big man, five foot eleven on a good day, but this little guy must have had a serious Napoleonic complex that made him so aggressive. Rick just smiled.

"No worries shorty, I wasn't going to take your pretty lady." Rick smiled and trotted off. He intentionally winked at Lisa as he ran back; Rick could feel the anger welling up in Karl and he knew that he was going to be able to have some fun with this chump.

Rick got back to the huddle, and looked at everyone around him. All the eyes said the same thing and Rick knew that he was going to have to say something. "What? You all act like you've never seen a hottie before. What was I supposed to do? Not hit on her a little? Come on guys you know me better than that."

There was some laughter and Rick knew that they weren't so much mad as they were just anxious for the next play to be called. As Rick was going to tell the play Alan looked at him, "Well you have to try to some from somewhere seeing as how you haven't been to the well in quite some time with your sorry excuse for a girlfriend. (feel free to edit to your liking that is your character and your witty one liner).

Rick rolled his eyes and the huddle broke into laughter. "Alright you shits just go run around and I'll find one you open." They all shrugged and broke away to their positions and Rick walked to the line and got under center. He snapped the ball and took a few steps into the pocket and saw that Alan was going into a hitch and fired the ball and hit in as he turned and he managed to fight for a few more yards.

Rick looked at the scoreboard and saw that they were down to about a minute and half. He thought for a second and decided that they needed to run two or three more plays and then punch the ball in. He audibled at the line of scrimmage and changed the play. He snapped the ball and threw a quick slant to his tight end and watched as he fought for eight yards and got out of bounds.

The team reformed at the line and Rick barked a series of commands and the players moved around and took their new position. He looked up, fifty seconds left. He took the snap and handed the ball off his fullback and watched as he ground out sic yards and got them a first down. Rick looked over and saw that they were on the opposing team's twenty yard line. Rick held his hand and made a T sign. The refs blew the whistle and Air Force team took its last timeout.

Rick walked over to Coach Williams and asked her what he should do. She just gave him a look and shrugged her shoulders. Rick gave her a look over and admitted that she was pretty and that he would so do her if it weren't for that unhappy fact that besides her also being the football coach, she was also his instructor for History of Dogfighting.

"I don't know Rick, just figure something out, but I'll tell you, that safety for the other team really doesn't like you." Rick nodded. He smiled and told her, "That's what happens when you flirt with his girlfriends." Coach Williams just rolled her eyes and told him, "Just get back out there and win the damn game."

Rick trotted back out and looked at the clock, twenty seconds left and they were about fourteen yards out. Rick smiled, this was the shit he thrived on. He got to the huddle and looked at everyone else. "Alright, who wants the ball?"

Before anyone else could answer, Rodney said that he wanted the ball bad. That he wanted the ball more than he wanted to get laid later. Which was saying a lot for Rodney cause the man was always horny and always had some sort of perverse joke ready to make at someone else's expense.

"Well, maybe after you get the ball, you can take it to dinner and fuck it later," Rick told him and they all laughed, even Rodney smiled. "Ok Rodney, just go and I'll hit you about the three yard line." Rodney smiled and nodded and the huddle broke. Rodney ran out to the left side and started talking his smack with the cornerback and the man just smiled and muttered something about having it coming.

Rick snapped the ball and took a few quick steps and threw a lob to the left side and watched as Rodney pulled the ball down but wobbled after the catch. Rick thought for a moment that Rodney was going to get across the line but his foot hit the line and he went out of bounds. Rodney stopped about the two and before he could prepare himself, a flash came from nowhere and clocked Rodney right in his ear hole and sent him tumbling.

Karl had lined Rodney up for a late hit and had absolutely crushed the receiver when he wasn't looking. Rick was pissed and ran up and laid down his own hit on Karl and in an instant, both the offense and defense had bunched in the middle of the field and where yelling at one another. Rodney still lay on the ground moaning and grumbling about how "payback is a bitch," and he was gonna make damn sure that the sonovabitch was gonna get it.

After the confrontation on the field and both sides had been penalized the ball stayed on the two yard line and both teams went back to their huddle seething with anger. Rodney stood in the huddle, wobbling a little, but mad a hornet when a kid sprays his hive. Rick smiled and knew that he could take advantage of this.

"Ok, listen, lets do a QB option, and Rodney, I want you to lay a little lumber for me." Rodney gave an evil smile and nodded his head, oh he understood. "Alan, do me a favor and go take out that son of a bitch line backer." Alan nodded silently, not one for much talking when the situation didn't require it. They broke huddle.

They went to the line and Rick noticed that Karl had lined up on the opposite side of Rodney and the he was staring down Rick intently. Rick smiled, if Rodney didn't get him, he would get someone. Rick snapped the ball and immediately took off to his right and watched the play develop. The entire field seemed to slow down for him.

He saw Rodney rush over to his right and absolutely laid out two defensive backs who hadn't seen him coming and Rick could have swore he heard Rodney give a laugh. He moved up the field and saw Alan had indeed engaged the line backer but seemed to be losing the fight with the stronger player. Rick started to run faster and saw that he had a free run until he saw Karl cut off his move and stood there waiting for him. Everything sped up and Rick lowered his shoulder and pushed forward hard and hit Karl square in his chest and felt the small man give way. Rick pushed through and saw beneath him the white line that signaled to him that he had scored.

Rick pulled his body up and saw that time had expired and that they had won. The jumped up and pulled the straps on his helmet and ripped it off and threw it. He started to bound around yelling and hollering and the entire Air Force team came streaming onto the field and started to all jump around. The Navy Team walked off the field, all shooting back looks.

Rick pulled away from the celebration and looked for the cheerleader and to his dismay, couldn't find her. He shrugged his shoulders and didn't think too much of it. It was a Saturday, and the team had the weekend off and al over the age of twenty-one meant that they were going to be celebrating this one for the next couple of hours. Rick smiled, he'd find out her name. He turned and walked away.

Lisa peeked out from around the corner and watched as he walked away. She thought he was cute, but knew that she loved Karl, despite his bad temper. She watched his figure retreat and wondered what he had come over here to ask. She just shrugged and walked back towards the locker rooms so she could get out of that god awful cheerleading outfit.

CP's AN: We're ba-ack! I had this idea for the storyline here a while back, and decided to kick-start it with KT, over here. Hope you all enjoy it…very R/L centered…but it takes severe liberties with the timeline and historical data.


	2. March of Chaos

Chapter II 

Rick sat in the student lounge with his best friends, Max, Ben, Alan, and Rodney, as they all watched the latest world news updates.

"Think the Russians can hold out this time," Max asked, rhetorically, as the news told of the encirclement of the 2nd Russian Army Group and the siege of St. Petersburg by Scandinavian and Central European troops.

"Even money, I think," Rodney replied. "General Winter traditionally helps the Russians, but this time, they're facing troops who know how to fight in the cold, in the Scandinavian ranks. The Central European forces, however, may crack and run in the poor weather."

"Like Hitler's forces in 1943/44," Max muttered thoughtfully.

"Exactly," Alan chimed in.

"How odd it is that, so often, the course of history is decided with a few bullets" Rick muttered, idly, as he thought over the strange circumstances that had led to this global nightmare.

"What do you mean," Ben asked him.

"Well, ever since Russia, or, more appropriately, the former Soviet Union, bankrupted itself in '81 when they poured a lot of their funds into the Afghan invasion, where they got whupped, they had to divert a large portion of their forces from Eastern Europe to Central Asia for the war effort, which gave the Eastern Europeans a chance to revolt and take control of their own governments," Rick said, reciting his most recent essay for political science class. "With the breakup of the Warsaw Pact, and their former satellites, now staunch economic allies of the Western and Central European governments, their president, Raskolnikov, found his country economically isolated and impoverished, so he decided to make an economic truce with the West and send diplomats to Berlin, which was the center of the newly-formed European Economic Council, to determine the terms."

"What happened next, then," Ben asked; he had no interest in politics, just had a pure love of flying and causing damage when told to do so.

"No one is exactly sure," Alan said. "When the Russian Ambassador, Tolstoy, arrived in Berlin, he was greeted at the tarmac by his security detail and escorted to the hotel where the conference was meeting. The meeting started at 1900, after their dinner. Unfortunately, right when the first German speaker rose to greet the audience and delegates, an anarchist rose from the crowd, pulled out an Uzi, and mowed down the delegates at the head table. When he finished, he detonated a suicide bomber belt, taking out the room.

"Understandably, the Russians were furious over the loss of their Ambassador, and the apparent lack of security provided by the Germans. They demanded that the perpetrators be handed over to their justice department for trial and punishment. The German government refused, saying it was a violation of their national sovereignty. The Russian ambassador to the UN, Dimitrovich, made accusations in the General Assembly, but nothing was done to satisfy them; the UN ruled that Germany had the right to investigate the assassination thoroughly before giving the information over to Russian authorities. In retaliation, someone in Moscow murdered a German diplomatic attaché, no claims of responsibility. Chancellor Harmon of Germany yelled back, protesting the murder, but Russian authorities claimed they had no knowledge of anything involving the murder."

"Then, if I remember correctly," Max said, "The countries that formerly made up the Warsaw Pact banded together again, fearful of Russian invasion and domination. This time, they allied with Germany, Austria, Italy and France, the major economic powers of Europe. Russia threatened the Baltic states to stay neutral, but they bolted to side with Poland, and, thus, the rest of Continental Europe. Russia mobilized its western border, and tried to forge an alliance with Finland to ensure its ports and waterways would be secured. Finland flatly refused, and, on October 13th, 1989, Friday the Thirteenth, as it were, the Russian 3rd armor and infantry divisions launched an invasion of Finland, to subdue resistance and capture a few ports.

"Unaccustomed to being violated, and with the Russians halfway across the northern and southern ends of her border, the president of Finland called to its neighbors, Norway and Sweden, for help. They formed a mutual defense pact, Sweden abandoning its 167-year-old policy of neutrality to do so. The Scandinavian forces hammered back at the Russian forces, invading deep into Soviet territory up to Murmansk and Arkangel, both Russian seaports on the Arctic Ocean. The defenders steadied their defense lines and counterattacked, after two months of heavy fighting, and sent the Scandinavians scurrying back to their fleet in the Baltic."

"I remember that, now," Rodney said. "I was in fourth grade the day that happened; we all watched the news as it happened to witness history in the making."

"So, what were the other countries doing," Ben asked, now engrossed in the tale.

"The Central European Empire forces watched the back-and-forth fighting with amused contempt, waiting for the best opportunity to land a blow against Russia," Rodney answered. "Moscow, in the meantime, realized that the situation was escalating, and withdrew several divisions from the Eastern provinces to defend the Western provinces.

"Six months into the war, when the powdered wigs in London realized what was happening on the Continent, and it was apparent that the fighting was larger than they had anticipated, the Labor Party, under Douglas Crittendon, resolved to stand firm in support (with money and materiel) with Moscow, starting with a couple billion pounds sterling to keep the ruble afloat. Shortly thereafter, a British diplomat in Austria opened his diplomatic bag one morning and realized someone gave him a present. They had switched his packet for one from the Imperial High Command, containing the C&C (command and control) documents for the Russian sector, as well as planned offensives in the coming year."

"Ah, yes, I seem to remember something about Austria arresting a British intelligence operative a few years back…was that what he was arrested for," Alan asked.

"According to Doc Roman, yes," Rick said. "That's why France and Germany led the bombing campaign over London late in 1989."

"I always wondered what had inspired that brilliant move," Alan said sarcastically. "Considering how much of the attacking air fleet was annihilated, I'm surprised someone volunteered the plan to begin with."

Rick added, as an afterthought, "And I also hear rumors that the Chinese had some involvement with the assassination in Berlin, way back when."

"You can't be serious," Max said, his jaw dropping.

"Yeah, Doc Roman still has connections with his friends still in the intelligence bureaus, and they say that the Chinese slipped an agitator into one of the anarchist groups in Berlin and let him stir up the pot, so to speak."

"But what would that have gained them," Rodney asked, clearly confused.

"Any number of things, actually," Alan replied, his tactical and strategic talents coming to the fore. "The purists among the hardliners in Beijing probably feel that the Russians have abandoned the 'true faith' of Marxism, and need to be rescued from themselves, the ethnic supremacists will want to show the true strength of China's might, which has been exploited by many European powers for centuries, and it'll give a purpose to the newborn males who have no brides back home to marry."

They were discussing the reasons because three years into the war, the Chinese had launched a massive offensive against Russia, cutting off and isolating Kamchatka and most of Siberia. It was only a British/Indian counterattack against the Chinese rear flank at Khandahar that prevented Moscow from surrendering in November of 1992.

Rick remembered the day that the US was drawn into the war; he was just 16 when his "Big Brother," Roy Fokker, went off to fly for the United States. China had just agreed to a military alliance with North Korea, and, less than 24 hours later, the Korean War was back on again, with the 15th Chinese Army and the whole of the North Korean Army headed across the 38th parallel. The 60,000 men of the combined US/South Korean defense force were simply overwhelmed by the superior numbers of the invaders, which numbered over 250,000 troops and vehicles, and quickly retreated back across the sea to Japan. The bases at Okinawa and Clark Field in the Philippines were overrun with refugees, and the fighter groups they possessed were sent north to stem the tide of the invasion.

Roy had seen the news that day and told Pop Hunter that he was going to go serve in the Air Force. "Are you crazy, Roy," Pop had said. "This isn't some air show where you fly through harmless fireworks. You will shoot, and you will kill, and you will probably die. All for what?"

"To defend my country, Pop," Roy had replied. "I know it isn't a game, but if I don't do this, and other pilots like me, then there won't be anymore flying for fun."

"Roy, don't do this," Pop had said. "I flew over Hanoi with guys like you, and I loved them dearly, as I love you and Rick, both; I just don't want to lose you like I lost them. So much potential, so much loss of innocence."

"Pop, I understand why you don't want me doing this, but I have to follow the calling of my heart," Roy said, as gently as he could, and saluted him, then spun about and walked out the door.

Rick admired his big brother; Roy was compassionate, but had a hardheaded approach to his core beliefs; he believed that you never start a fight, but always finish it. After Roy left to follow his heart, Pop Hunter devoted his time to teaching Rick how to be dutiful without needing to fight; how to honor himself and everyone around him. Rick learned how to fight and win, or fight and lose, with honor, with dignity, and how to hold on while the rest of the world was trying to kick him loose. And every day, in every way, Rick tried his hardest to be as good as, if not better than, his old man. Then came the day Rick told his father that he was going to go to ROTC during college…

AN: Sorry it took so long to post Chapter II; had to get the details right on global chaos, and make it utterly believable.


	3. Lies and Deciets

Chapter III 

Claudia sighed as she watched Lisa and Sammie went back and forth arguing about the game Saturday, or more to the point, the cheerleading on Saturday. She gave a slight bemused smile and watched as she sipped her tea.

"Damn it, Lisa, it wasn't that big a deal anyway. You've been to the games, you knew what we wear!" Sammie said, her voice getting louder with each retort.

"Yeah, but I didn't think that you would talk me into looking like a fool in front of everyone, not to mention the fact that the person I was replacing wasn't there because she _broke_ _her leg_." Lisa said equally as loud and slightly angrier.

Lisa was seething, not so much because of the clothes she had to wear, but the fact that she was almost crushed by someone named Hunter and had to look like one of those preppy girls that she saw all over the school, and even in the ROTC.

This train of thought took her mind elsewhere as she decided that arguing with Sammie over such trivial things was pointless. She began to think about Hunter, whoever he was. Well, that wasn't exactly true; she knew who he was, courtesy of the Trio.

They had seen the moment between them and the anger that it stoked in Karl and decided that they wanted to play with that fire. Lisa was beyond trying to get them to stop because they were insufferable when it came to Karl. They flat didn't like him.

That very night, as a matter of fact, the Trio had gone around the campus asking about a man named Hunter who was in the Air Force ROTC. It didn't take long for them to find out what they needed from someone named Rodney who knew Rick. Apparently he was a fixture for the Air Force ROTC, and there seemed to be no end of ladies that seemed to also fixate onto Rick.

She smiled at the name, Rick Hunter. It had a nice ring to it and it made her smile as she pictured herself with him, if only for a brief second. It was too late by then, she was attracted.

'Damn it Lisa Hayes, you have a boyfriend, sort of anyway,' she thought to herself. She looked down at her tea and decided that she was going to need something stronger now, this was going to be an interesting night as she heard Vanessa start cooking in the kitchen.

-----------------------------

"Oh man Rick, you're a popular man with the Lady Squids," Rodney said flopping down onto the couch next to Rick, handing him a beer.

Rick, for his part, rolled his eyes and gave him his "Rick Hunter Smile" that seemed to work on all ladies.

Rodney laughed; he wished it was as easy for him as it was for Rick. He opened his beer and took a sip, 'Well, not everyone can be Rick Hunter,' Rodney told himself as he tapped the mouth of Rick's beer and made it overflow and jumped away as Rick took a swing at him, laughing the whole time.

Max perked up and looked over from the phone, he had been on the phone trying to order a pizza, but had been unsuccessful to this point.

"What do you mean Rodney?" Max asked as he sat on hold still, waiting for that minimum wage jockey to get back to him so they could get a damn pizza.

Rick sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. Deciding he'd rather tell the story than have Rodney spin it into a tale of epic, and false, proportions.

"Apparently," Rick started, throwing a pillow at Rodney's back and hitting him in the head mid-sip, "there was a trio of girls going around asking about me. Well they found stupid here," Rick gestured to Rodney who made an innocent "Me?" face and let Rick finish, "and he told them all about me, and I mean all about me."

This prompted another pillow attack from the couch, but Rodney had been hit once and was ready for this one. It missed and hit the wall.

"Come on Rick," Ben said with a mocking tone, "how many other guys get to have the best looking Air Force Cadet, and _still_ have other women pine after you like love struck puppies?"

Rick shrugged and looked at all of them. All eyes where on him.

"Well, if any of you pricks had anywhere near what I was packing, you'd be the toast of the town too, but all of you just suck at life." Rick said as he took a hasty sip of beer.

Everyone groaned and pelted Rick with whatever was handy. Rick even thought he saw a phone fly for his head.

'Oh well,' Rick said, 'this is the price of being amazing.'

-----------------------------

Sharply contrasting the guy's room across the way, the ladies of the Navy ROTC were sitting down to dinner and talking about everything and anything.

"Well of course he wanted you Kim, you're the easiest one here," Sammie said jokingly trying to prod Kim into divulging what she had been doing last night after the game with one of the Navy football players.

Kim's face went ten shades of red and she seriously thought about the penalties of stabbing someone with a fork. She decided it wasn't worth being someone bitch in prison and let the jibe go.

Sammie, realizing that she wasn't going to get anything out of Kim turned her eye to Claudia. She smiled.

"So….Claudia," she began, but that was far as she got before Claudia gave her a look that told her one thing. Go there, and die. Sammie let it go.

"Oh come on Sammie, let it go. Don't you have your own life or something like it?" Lisa said with a slight smirk. Lisa wasn't much one for trying to be funny, but she had her moments as a round of slight giggles rose from everyone except Sammie.

Sammie gave her a look, she hated to be the butt of a joke, and she knew she was nosy as hell, but that was her way. But Lisa had just opened Pandora's Box, and she was going to get messy in Lisa's personal life.

"Oh really, Lisa?" Sammie said with a confident look on her face.

Lisa didn't like the look, and knew that she was in for it now. Suddenly she was happy that she had started drinking wine earlier, it would make this interesting.

"At least I am not the one giving away the better part of myself to a prick that doesn't appreciate her and fools around with other women." Sammie said in a nasty tone. This was the same song and dance that they always had, and had been having for several weeks, but they could never make Lisa see it.

Lisa didn't say anything, just set her fork down and stared at her plate. She knew that Karl wasn't the boyfriend he had been. He wasn't there for her like he had been, and he had started to give her excuses for not hanging out with her, if he even gave any anymore.

It made her sad and she could see it and feel that Karl was beginning to pull away from her more and more, but she absolutely terrified of letting go of something that she had been attached to for so long.

The idea that he wasn't as genuine as she was, that he was selfish and took and took and never seemed to care any about how anything he did made her feel broke her heart a million times again and again. She could feel the sadness well up inside of her and fought back the tears she knew were quickly rising up.

Part of her wanted so desperately for him to change, to wake up and see that she was what he needed, that all they needed was one another and they would make each other happy forever. But the harder she tried to make him see that, the more he seemed to rebuff her and pull away more. She had given him chances to change for her, but he didn't seem to care about changing for her, all he seemed to care about was he. All he cared about was himself and he was nothing more than a selfish, self centered prick that did everything for himself and nothing for her.

A part of her wanted to tell him to "Fuck off," but another part of her wanted to hold him and love him and tell him that she would love him forever. But lately, she had been seeing more of her future without him, and that disturbed her.

But Lisa knew she was at a critical junction. Her friends where her friends and she knew they had no ulterior motive in telling her these things. They only wanted what was best for her. But she also was blinded by her feelings and didn't see or, or didn't want to see, what everyone else could see as plain as day.

The Trio had been talking about drinking tonight, and Lisa, never one for drinking a lot, resisted the idea initially. She didn't anymore.

Lisa got up, walked to the pantry and grabbed a bottle vodka, slammed it down in the table, "Let's do this," she said with a note of sadness and finality. The Trio let out a small cheer and Claudia shook her head with a small smile on her face.

'Lisa dear,' she thought, 'you're going to be unhappy tomorrow.'

-----------------------------

Max had finally gotten the pizzas after he had hit Rick in the head with the phone. The guys sat around, talking and eating, doing guy things. That meant that they sat around, talked about sex, women, sports, and naked women.

Rick laughed at Rodney after Alan made some snide remark having to do with his sexuality. Rodney just rolled his eyes knowing that there was not defense against that wit, except for not talking.

"So, what are you going to about that trio of girls chasing after you Rick?" asked Alan as he ate some pizza.

Rick looked up at him and thought for a moment. He was in a relationship, but something inside of him told him that he was losing it, and fast. She always seemed to be out, or with the "Girls" doing something absolutely useless and ridiculous, as women are prone to do.

As much as Rick liked to act like a chauvinist and flirt with other girls, he was really not a promiscuous person and was very loyal to those he was in a relationship with. He cared for his girlfriend, Anna, and he was confident that she cared about him. But lately he had never doubted her more, because she had been disappearing lately.

"Rick!" Someone said, that brought Rick back to reality.

He looked over to the group and smiled, "What damn it?" He said with feigned anger.

"I've heard some rumors that Russia is getting close to it's breaking point, and that there may be some sort of serious change going down soon."

"Where'd you hear that rumor?" Rick asked incredulously.

Alan gave a shrug of his shoulders, "Doc Roman."

Rick shook his head vigorously. Doc Roman was a pretty reliable source of information on theories of intelligence operations and the like, but he'd been wrong before, and Lord knew the man was only human. Maybe it was only wishful thinking on the professor's part.

"Come on, we've all heard that Russian emphatically declare they are going it alone," Rick said between bites.

"Yeah, we all have, but have you seen what they've been dealing with lately?" Max asked with a look that said something was going on somewhere somehow.

Rick didn't argue, he knew the Russians were getting hammered. The Chinese in the East and the Central Empire in the West and they were clawing at Russia with all they had. Rick knew that Russia couldn't hold forever and that something was going to have to give. He shuttered at the thought.

_Roy…_

-----------------------------

Lisa looked at Sammie with a disbelieving look. She tried to push through the cloud in her head, but try as she might; the buzz was prohibiting her from forming a good thought.

"Wh-what did you say?" Lisa asked Sammie trying hard to remember the words she had just heard.

"I said that Hannah saw Karl with another girl going into a hotel in the city. And that if you ever wanted to see what Karl was all about, now is the time to see it."

Lisa looked at her and thought hard for a second. The buzz that she had been working on for the last hour was now gone, and her brain was working in overdrive to try and overcome the alcoholic obstacle that was now firmly lodged in her head.

Lisa gathered all her gumption and decided that now was the time, it was now or never and she would see if Karl was the man she wanted him to be, that he had been, or the piece of shit he had become and the one that everyone warned her about.

"Ok, she say where it was?" Lisa asked her.

Sammie nodded.

"Let's go."

-----------------------------

Rodney got off his cell phone and looked at Rick with a worried look on his face.

"Hey Rick, umm, wow, how to say this…umm, man I just got off the phone with Hector, and he told me that he saw Anna in town." Rodney said.

Rick looked at him and shrugged his shoulders, "So?" He asked not seeming to get the drift that everyone else had.

In mid-sip Rick choked on his beer. His mind had finally gotten to the next level and was processing the looks he was getting the digesting the things that he had heard.

"Wait, did he say with whom?" Rick asked, now understanding what Rodney had told him.

Rodney's lips where a thin line now and Rick could tell that Rodney was struggling with how to say what he knew he must.

"Yeah, that safety from the oth-," Rodney hadn't even finished his sentence and Rick was up on his feet making for he door. He stopped and looked at his four friends, "Well, get the lead out fuckers, Alan you drive. Rodney I assume he told you where."

Rodney nodded his head.

"Let's go," was all Rick said as they all ran out the door, Max slamming it on his way out.

-----------------------------

Karl looked at Anna and smiled. They had just finished for the first time tonight and he lay on the bed feeling very good about himself. He was getting to be with two women at once, one more beautiful, the other more promising in the long run.

What he couldn't figure out was how Lisa hadn't seemed to figure out what was going on so far. He didn't care, if she was too dumb, or too blind to see it, why ruin a good thing. He rolled over and began to fondle Anna.

"That was nice," was all he said and Anna gave him an exasperated look. She never really showed how she felt and she was all about the game. Karl smiled and thought to himself, 'Game over, whore, I win because here you are,' he smiled again.

His smiled disappeared when he heard a car screech to a halt outside and heard several male voices. This was also followed by another car coming to a quick halt in front of the motel and now he heard several female voices. He immediately recognized one of them. Lisa.

"Shit!" Karl said. He began to frantically grab for all his clothes and move as quickly as he could. He managed to gather all his clothes and made for the window and looked out ahead of him. '_A fire escape_._Maybe I can get out of this_,' Karl thought.

He heard Anna's protests about "letting them find us." Karl turned to her and looked at her with an incredulous look.

"No way in hell, you're a nothing compared to what Lisa can be when she gets out of here. I plan on hitching my wagon to that ride for as long as I can." Karl said as he got onto the fire escape and started to climb down it.

Anna sat there with a shattered look and began to cry.

Just then the door opened and in strode Rick, Max, Ben, and Alan. She saw them all and began to cry. She didn't even bother trying to cover herself as she sat there crying. She looked up again and saw several other people she didn't know there now.

The men all turned away, and Rick walked over and covered her up.

Anna looked at the other ladies and knew why they were here. She pointed to the open window and the ladies made for the exit.

"Rick…I'm sorry," Anna said, between tears. Max, Ben, and Alan all took that as a cue to leave and left the room.

Rick looked at her, his face calm, but his insides torn apart and writhing in agony. But he didn't show it.

"Eh, it happens, but we are over you know," was all Rick said as he looked at her one more time and shut the door on her as he erupted into a full fledged sobbing fit.

Rick closed the door and stood against it for a second and felt a single tear slide down his face.

"Fuck," he screamed and punched the wall, leaving a hole in the sheet rock and walked away, nursing his anger and hurt.

"If I find that son of a bitch, I swear to god…" Rick muttered and went down the stairs.

-----------------------------

Karl jumped down from the fire escape and finished putting his pants back on. He smiled at his luck and started to move away when he bumped into something. He looked up and saw the face of the man he had laid a cheap hit on in the football game yesterday.

"Shit…" Karl trailed off as the man hauled back and punched Karl so hard to it sent him flying back toward the entrance. Karl hit the ground with a body shaking thud. He groaned and looked up and wished immediately that the man had punched his lights out so he wouldn't have to face this.

As suddenly as he was on his back, he was on his feet again. Hauled up by the man who had hit him.

He was before Lisa, arms held behind his body by Rodney. He knew it was coming, the wrath of Lisa was not one that you incurred with little thought given to your well-being afterwards.

"Let go of him," Lisa told Rodney.

"Huh?" Rodney said, not paying much attention to her as he saw that Ben, Max, and Alan were now on the scene.

"I said let go of him god damn it!" Lisa said with an icy tone in her voice.

Rodney was taken aback, "Who the hell do you think you are, lady? I don't listen to you."

Lisa could feel herself getting more and more angry as this man holding Karl, but she knew he was not the one to be mad at.

"Let go of him Rodney," Rick said coming out of the motel.

"But…I thought you wanted a piece of this guy." Rodney said confused.

Rick snorted, "By the looks of things, you got him well enough for the both of us."

Rodney looked at Rick now for the first time since all this had gone down. It was nighttime and this was playing out on a lonely street on Oahu Island. Even in the darkness with only the dim lighting from the streetlights playing off their faces, Rodney could see the anguish and hurt that was ever present on Rick and Lisa's faces.

Rodney let Karl go and looked to Lisa, "I'm sorry," was all he said and Lisa gave him a soft smile and a nod.

"It's ok," Lisa said.

Karl looked from Rodney, who had just let him go, to Rick to Lisa. All the while contemplating whether or not he should make a run for it before someone else decided to get a punch in.

It was too late as Lisa had swung her right fist toward his face and made contact with the other side of his face, sending him backwards into the street and into a puddle.

Lisa stood up and corrected herself, and flattened out her clothes. She gave a look to Rick and smiled, "Thank you," she said to him.

Rick looked at her, puzzled, "For what?"

"I'm not sure, but thank you anyway." Lisa said as she looked at her friends and they all got back into the car and drove away.

Rick watched as they drove away and he heard a sudden movement to his left. He looked up to Karl making a run for it. He saw Ben make a move to get him, but Rick told them not to bother with him.

They all exchanged glances and Rick knew they had to leave. He smiled, despite his heart and gut wrenching pain, and told them it was time to go home and forget today and to hell with tomorrow.

-----------------------------

Inside the motel room, Anna stared at the phone for what seemed like ages as she pondered her next move, wondering what to do.

"I will have you back Rick Hunter, so help me god, I will have you back." She said to herself, and, as an afterthought, "And you Karl Riber, you will regret the day you made me the fool, you will pay in spades."

Anna smiled again and began to cry. 'Yes,' she thought, 'things are going off perfectly.'

Then, she made up her mind, picked up the phone, and dialed the number she had in mind…

AN: As if you can't tell, we're alternating chapters…KT wrote this one, I wrote the one previously, and I'll return with the next one, as well. Hope you all enjoyed it.


	4. Welcome to the Big Show

Chapter IV 

_'0530 comes way too early,' _Rick decided, as Reville sounded across the quad. Rodney, Alan, Max, and Ben rolled over, shoved their feet into boots, and fell out to the rain-swept parade grounds immediately after Rick. The sun hadn't risen yet, and the pre-dawn darkness seemed surreal as the cadets stood together as they had done every morning since they had arrived there. This morning, however, there was an aura of electricity; word had broken through the night that the Russian forces in Novosibirsk had begun mounting their final stand against the Chinese 15th armored division. With that knowledge in their minds, the cadet corps assembled into morning formation and sounded off roll call, whereupon the Drill Instructor came forward.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," he boomed out of a smile that was completely incongruous to his face.

"Good morning, Drill Instructor, sir," they bellowed back as one voice.

"All senior cadets, report to the briefing theater in thirty mikes, flight suits and combat gear. Everyone else gets to do morning PT with me," he growled. The underclassmen groaned; that was not what they wanted to hear.

"Maybe Doc Roman was right," Alan grunted as the five friends bolted back to the dorm to change into their flight suits.

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean we're getting involved with this," Rodney muttered dismissively.

"What else could it be," Max asked, once they were all inside the barracks, dressing for mission.

"Let's just get there and find out," Rick said, notching his harness and clearly annoyed by this pre-briefing psychic babble.

They grabbed their duffle bags (always packed, for deployment at a moment's notice) and sprinted to the briefing room. With five minutes to spare, they sat in the corner nearest the exit, as it was the only block of 5 seats left. They had long ago learned to not discuss mission briefs before the mission, as it led to preconceived notions of what the mission would be, and that would lead to getting mentally keyed up for something other than the mission at hand, which had the potential of risking injury or worse to the pilots.

Right at 0600 on the dot, Commandant Reynolds walked through the doorway, and the seniors stood at attention. "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," he said, smoothly but with an air of authority.

"Good morning, base commander, sir," they shouted.

"Take a seat, folks," he ordered, clicking a video projector to life. "This is a live video feed from Skye News over St. Petersburg. Note that the Russian Army is surrendering, ladies and gentlemen. This changes the scope of the war dramatically, now that Russia has one fewer field force in play. So dramatically, in fact," he said, pacing back and forth on the dais, "that Moscow has asked the President for an alliance, one that can shift the momentum of this war, and potentially shorten it."

"Sir, what does this have to do with us," Rick asked.

"PACCOM has diverted most of its carrier groups to the southern Pacific rim, to counter the Chinese offensive through Indonesia," Reynolds answered. "Therefore, they have requested that we send you on 'training maneuvers' on the Japanese carrier, _Akagi, _for 'practice with carrier landings.' It also serves as the flagship for combined operations with our Japanese friends, and is Admiral Grayson's command ship. Once on board the _Akagi_, you will rendezvous with your opposites in the Japanese ROTC program, designated Lotus Squadron, for air security. Our brethren in the Navy program over yonder have been tasked with ship security, and will meet with their opposites in the Japanese navy. We will escort their shuttle, a Planetlifter named "Truce," to the _Akagi_ for this purpose, ensure the docking maneuvers with the Russian submarine, the _Minsk_, and escort the carrier and the submarine back to Pearl for the treaty negotiations.

"Just so you know, we have a limited window to do this with; Chinese carrier group B, the Water Dragon Task Force, is only two hours away from the meeting zone as of this hour. We expect it to take one hour to fly out there, land, and tend to the security matters. The Chinese haven't changed course or speed as of last report, but that may change. Expect the Chinese to deploy Sai fighters, two variants. One, as you know, has the long range, medium-damage lasers and limited missile payload, whereas the other has an extended-range particle cannon with plenty of missile backup. Be careful when maneuvering; there's really no way to spot the difference between the two from far away, and when you notice the chin hump for the particle cannon, you're in range."

"Sai's matter not," Alan muttered.

"This is a highly important mission, ladies and gentlemen," the commandant finished. "You have twenty mikes to get to the flight line, we're going up in a half hour, that's thirty mikes."

Rick motioned to his buddies, "C'mon, guys, let's grab some caffeine and pastries before going on the line."

Alan said, "I wonder what happened to that schmuck from the other night, Karl?"

A similar question was being asked across the campus, at the Navy mess, after their morning briefing. "Where's Karl," Lisa asked, half not caring what the answer would be.

"Not certain," Claudia replied. "I haven't talked to the Trio yet this morning; they were out of the barracks before I was awake."

With a squeal of gossip and a flurry of boots, Lisa and Claudia found themselves surrounded by the Trio, all with expressions that hinted they would explode if they didn't get their information out. "What, ladies," Claudia asked, trying to speed up their delivery.

"Sorry we didn't get to see you before the briefing, Lisa," Kim began, breathless, "but we have some juicy gossip, and we know you'll want to hear this."

"Karl's gone AWOL," Sammie blurted out.

Lisa went from calm and collected to startled awake in a second. "What Miss Sensitivity didn't tell you, Lisa," Vanessa said, glaring briefly at Sammie, "is that the bitch he was with that night, Anna, filed rape charges against him, and he fled to avoid arrest."

"Who the hell is that slut, and why did Karl take up with her," Lisa asked shortly.

"She's apparently an Air Force ROTC cadet, and rumor has it, she used to be the girlfriend of a certain football player we know and drool over," Kim said.

"I wondered what brought him out that night," Lisa mused. "I guess that answers that."

Claudia wondered what Lisa was doing. "You okay, Lisa? You seem out of it."

"Yeah, I'm okay; I just decided that, what with the mission and all today, I'm putting this out of my mind, there's no use in getting worked up over it right now," Lisa said, not trusting herself to speak further, and finding the oatmeal she had was more interesting than her friends' company. Just then, the PA blared:

"All senior cadets to the tarmac, liftoff in five mikes."

Passing over the horizon, and approaching the rendezvous area, Rick looked over the flight formation his squadron was in. He was reassured to see that it was the Vulture formation Alan and Max had designed, which meant that the twelve fighters in his unit, Lancer LX-2's, were arrayed in twin lines of five fighters each, forming a reverse dual arrowhead on split levels, with two lead fighters forming the 'neck' and 'beak' of the bird. This encouraged the pilots to stay alert, and if they came upon an enemy formation from behind, they could spread out and pounce on the fighters, using multiple angles to pound the enemy to slag. In theory, of course; they hadn't tried it in live-fire exercises yet.

"Sooner Leader, this is Sooner Five," Alan said. "I'm getting a sonar contact off my two."

"Acknowledged, Five, that's the _Minsk_. She's pulling alongside the _Akagi_ as we approach. Maintain formation, guys. We're making history today."

"In other words, we're like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, we'll go down in history," Rodney joked from the cockpit of Sooner Twelve.

"More like Rick's grade last semester," Max sniped.

"How sharper than a serpent's tooth," Rick snapped in mock annoyance, then sat up and said, in an official voice, "Half klick out from _Akagi_, comm check, guys."

Sooner Squadron reeled off their call numbers, from Max through Rodney, and everyone in between. "Sooner One, this is _Akagi_ Control. Please alter course and formation so that you can proceed with landing maneuvers."

"Sooner, you heard the lady; form up for landing maneuvers. Sloppiest flight pair buys drinks," Rick said, looking at the picture of his father for luck and preparing for the complicated procedure that one of his instructors compared to "jumping on a moving skateboard while going downhill."

"Attention, Sooner Squadron. Abort your landing run now; enemy fighter formation on the horizon. Two Sai squadrons, plus carrier support," came the flight controller on the _Akagi_. "We will send up Lotus Squadron in support."

Rick thought it over; Lotus Squadron flew Sparrowhawks, armed with short range air-to-air missiles and short range lasers. He figured out a battle plan rapidly. "Sooners, break by wings, find a target, and attack," Rick ordered. "Max, follow me."

The Sooner Squadron pilots got up to speed quickly in their Lancers, their lasers firing as fast as they could cycle. Unfortunately, three of their pilots went down without a chance to defend themselves. As Sooner squadron took their lumps, Lotus pilots fell upon the Sai's from behind, and a massive furball ensued. Rick led his flight element on an Immelmann's turn up and away from the _Akagi_ in an attempt to draw some enemy fighters with them, and into the range of some of the AA guns. Three Sai's followed, and were turned to dust.

Rick then inverted his fighter tail-for-nose and unleashed a deadly torrent of pulsating laserfire on more of his pursuers, while the remaining three pilots following (now ahead of) him used their ATA (air-to-air) missiles, destroying four Sai's in the process.

Donating another missile group to the dogfight, Rick pulled away from the bloodknot for a moment and looped around to assess the damage. The _Minsk_ and the _Truce_ both accomplished their missions, but at a dreadful toll; half of Sooner squadron had taken severe damage, with three dead already, and the Lotus pilots were at 50 casualties. He turned his fighter back towards an enemy pilot making a run at the command tower, firing his pulse lasers rapidly. He burned off a section of the fighter's tail but couldn't get it broken down enough to prevent its course. "_Akagi_ control, this is Sooner leader. Get your firefighting crews on standby and evacuate the bridge. You have an enemy fighter set to ram your flight deck. Copy."

Rick heard orders snapped to the Navy cadets as his message was relayed. "Sooner leader, we read you. Will comply. Now forgive us for being unsociable, we're going to have to get belowdecks."

Rick was sure he heard the vocal stylings of that brunette he saw outside Anna's motel room; he could swear her name was Lisa.

"Copy, bridge," he replied, trying as he went to dislodge the Sai from its flight path. He kept tearing off small chunks of armor from the fighter's backside as it dove, but couldn't discourage it from plummeting into the _Akagi's_ flight deck. He winced as he saw the Sai detonate on the deck, near the command tower, and hoped that it didn't penetrate too deeply.

Lisa's face contorted with horror as she witnessed the fighter diving towards the flight deck from her position on the lower command deck. She turned to run toward the door, engulfing Kim, Vanessa, and Sammie with her arms as she tackled them to the deck to avoid the explosion. Heat and flames flew across her back as they tumbled to the metal floor, and Lisa felt a scrap of metal nick her lower back. The explosion was deafening, and the women all looked at each other in shock. The Lieutenant that had accompanied them to the auxiliary bridge was flat on his back, with a deep chest wound from flying debris. Lisa suddenly found herself as senior officer present; her training hadn't accounted for that yet. The remainder of their cadre was below deck, attending the ceremony welcoming the delegates aboard, as were the Japanese cadets.

"Alright, ladies," Lisa snapped, as they all stood up, "there's some firefighting gear two bulkheads down the hall. Let's grab it and go to work."

They took the extinguishers and set about putting the fires out in their section of the world, and Lisa looked at the auxiliary bridge, seeing the room in tatters and the controls damaged. "Vanessa, can you get the radar operational," Lisa asked.

"I think so," Vanessa replied.

"Communications are shot," Kim called out.

"Sammie, I need you to run to the flight deck and seek out Captain Gloval, maybe some flag officer is with him. Tell them the situation and request instructions," Lisa said.

Sammie saluted by way of reply and ran off to perform her duties. Lisa glanced around the auxiliary bridge and grimaced; it would need a lot of love to get it up and running again. She was digging the tactical display up out of a pile of debris when she heard feet behind her. She turned around and smiled at one of the twelve Japanese cadets who just arrive, and he saluted and shook her hand.

"_Chu-I_ Ichiro Takagi, at your service," he said, with a slight bow.

"Lieutenant, j.g. Lisa Hayes," she said in reply, bowing.

"What do we need to do to help," he asked.

"Grab a shovel and help us dig out parts of the bridge, here, for starters. Then we're gonna try to search for survivors in this neck of the ship."

He spoke in Japanese to his crew; half took up shovels from the supply closet, the others went out to seek survivors. In rapid time, Lisa noted, the auxiliary bridge was up and running pretty well. Sammie returned a moment later.

"Lisa, the hallway to the flight deck is collapsed; I couldn't get in there. But I heard the admiral yelling through the debris that the bridge was destroyed and we had to regain helm control."

"Helm is now operational," Lieutenant Takagi reported a half second later. "Orders, Lieutenant Hayes?"

Lisa looked at Sammi and arched her right eyebrow. "Admiral Grayson didn't leave orders about what to do next, Lisa."

Lisa thought for a second, furiously trying to figure out their next moves. "Can your classmates shoot, Ichiro," she asked.

"Yes, they can, Miss Lisa," he replied.

"There's a few anti-aircraft batteries between the flight deck and the hangar deck. Do you think you can get your men there to start shooting at them?"

"_Hai,_ Lisa," Ichiro replied.

"Send half your men to the gun pods, and the rest to try and bypass that hallway to get the Admiral out. I'd like you to stay here and help us coordinate the bridge activities," she replied.

Takagi, Lisa, and the girls did everything they could to resume control of the ship, even dispatching some of the girls and guys from Lisa's training cadre to help with critical control systems as they drifted away from the rubble they'd been caught under.

"Attention on deck," Kim shouted as the flag officer walked in the door.

"At ease," Admiral Grayson said, returning the salutes offered around the room. "Good job, ladies and gents, we're still afloat and you got this ship back under control. Let's land those fighters and go home, shall we," he smiled as they brought the ship up to flank speed and headed back to Pearl Harbor.

AN: Sorry it took so long to post a new chapter, I had a minor annoyance happen in my life (my car caught fire, and I had to deal with the insurance people). Now I'm back and the juices are flowing. Hope you like, and please review. J


	5. On the carpet

Chapter V 

The success of the meeting between Russian and Allied forces on the Akagi, a lot had been made of it all across the world, by all the new outlets and every nation. To most it was seen as a turning point in the grand scheme of the Global Civil War.

But for everyone who had been there, it was nowhere near as heroic and symbolic as it had been made out to be. A lot of good people had died, whether they are Japanese, Chinese, Russian or American, there had been too many people killed, and it played on Rick.

'I suppose that's the loneliness and responsibility of command,' he told himself as they made their way back to Hawaii, where they would all debrief, and try to get back on with their lives.

But things seemed so different now, where life had seemed like it was just one happy party, to happy party, with some actual schooling in between. It seemed so far away that they would ever have to actually go into combat despite the fact they were all in college ROTC's, which meant they would be in the service for years after college.

It was just something that they hadn't anticipated on having to deal with so early, especially before they graduated. This wasn't to say that they hadn't all been prepared for it on some level, something that they all knew deep down and deep within themselves that it could always be a possibility.

Rick lined his fighter up for a landing, and was pulled away from his combination of grief and turmoil. But as he followed the man with the lights, pointing out where he needed to taxi his fighter, he was struck with a sudden thought.

They were simply expected to go back to the normal swing of things, to go back to a life that had been changed for them. They had all seen combat and death on some level; they had been through their baptism by fire that every greenhorn went through. It occurred to him then and there that they were no longer as innocent as the next person at school, no longer just another person.

Rick pulled the canopy lever and it rose up, exposing him to the warm, salty air that he and all his friends had been accustomed to. It felt pleasant on his face, but something else brought him crashing back to reality.

"Lieutenant Hunter," a voice called for him, approaching his fighter at a rapid pace, looking like one of those officious pricks that you knew from high school who was the one proud of the fact that he ran the audio-visual aids.

He heard the man call for him, but he didn't care too much, he was just far enough off for him to pretend that he hadn't heard him. Finally the man was upon him, and Rick could no longer pretend.

"Lieutenant Hunter," the nasally, grating voice said once again, "Lieutenant Hunter, the Commandant would like to see you immediately."

Rick looked down at the man who he didn't recognize, "Why," was all Rick could manage.

He man gave him an annoyed shrug, wearing a look that told Rick that the man was annoyed at having to even go looking for him. Rick didn't care what the man felt, or for that matter, if he made him mad. To that end, he dismissed the man, as if he were merely just a servant.

The man either didn't care, or was in too much of a hurry because he started off at once, and began to approach others and talk to them in turn also.

Rick climbed down the ladder and started to walk towards the building that all ROTC cadets had come to either fear or love. For Rick, it was the latter; he had run into "some trouble" as a Cadet, well, "some trouble" was a nice way of putting it. Rick smiled as he admitted to himself that he was a troublemaker, but a damn good one.

Rick looked over and saw Rodney, Alan, Ben, Max and the Navy ROTC cadets they had met that night. He smiled at his friends, as they got closer.

"Well guys, this should bring back some memories," Rodney told them, also a troublemaker in his own right, maybe even more so than Rick, but Rick would never admit it.

"You remember the time that we all snuck out after curfew and they ended up chasing us all across the city," Alan said, laughing.

All the men laughed as they remembered the night.

They had all just completed their first year, and it was the night after they had finished with all their exams, and to them they felt like they all deserved a nice night out, womanizing and drinking.

"Well, Rodney you were supposed to the designated driver that night, but nooooo, you had go with that woman from the bar," said Max in an accusing voice.

The women followed behind, far enough back to disassociate, but close enough to hear the story. Lisa for her part listened to the scene with some interest, hoping to glean whatever she could about Hunter she could from the conversation.

Her attention shifted from Max, the one with blue tinted hair, to Rodney, the man she remember holding Karl that night.

Rodney looked at Max with a shocked expression, "Look, she was a ten, and she wanted me, you expect me to say no to that? Designated Driver be damned, I was not going to say no."

"Oh yes I remember her," Alan said with a sly grin, "and do remember the pain in the ass it was for you to get from her place the next morning back to the base for roll call?"

Rodney rolled his eyes, "Well, yeah, but not as hard as it was for you to try and convince that crazed cop that you were actually ROTC cadets and they would have your ass if you didn't get back soon."

At this point, Rick held his hands up and smiled, "Look, let's just leave it as this, Rodney is a sex-crazed freak who found himself a smokin' hottie that night, and did what any of us would have done, he went for it."

There was a murmur, and a lot of head shaking.

Ben looked to Rodney, "You never told us what she looked like, buddy," he said his voice full of excited mischief.

"And you'll never know," Rodney said with a laugh, and they all stopped at the commandant's building. Bad enough some have an office; this man had a damn building.

Rick walked up to door and held it open for everyone, "Ladies first, and I don't mean you Ben," Rick said with a smirk and the Air Force guys laughed.

They walked through the corridors, and they all began to feel that sense of foreboding.

Lisa leaned over to Rick, "So how many times have you been here, hot shot," she asked him thin-lipped, but with a light tone. He smiled.

"More times than I can tell you, darlin'," Rick said with a cocky smile and his Oklahoma accent that so many women found to be alluring, he hated it.

She gave him a slight smile, and they stopped in front of the busy secretary, who briefly looked up and gave the men a once over, "You boys again?"

The women suppressed laughter, and the secretary, who was no more than thirty looked at Alan and gave him a hungry look, and a slight wink. Alan gulped.

She pointed to some seats not far away and told them to sit down, "The commandant will see you soon, don't you worry, you're not in trouble, I don't think."

They all sat down and looked at one another, they waited for a few minutes and the silence that had fallen on them was deafening. They all started to look to one another and began to whisper slightly.

But the pleasantries were soon over as the very pissed off, and very angry commandant opened to door, and pointed an angry finger at Lisa, "You," the man said in an angry, surly tone, "come into my office."

Lisa got up smartly and followed him in. The Commandant was a tall man, perhaps six foot three or taller, with a beer belly, and a balding head. He looked tired and worn, as if the entire world had been playing on his nerves.

He gestured for Lisa to sit down, and as she did, he took out a bottle of Pepto-Bismol and an alka-seltzer. He popped the alka-seltzer into his mouth and chewed quickly, and then took several gulps of the Pepto. Lisa looked disgusted but hid her thoughts.

'My god, I hope I never get that bad,' Lisa told herself. 'I wonder if dad has gotten to that point yet, lord I hope not, the man is utterly hopeless at caring for himself.'

He put the bottle down, and looked at Lisa, "Sorry, ulcers kill, and I don't have the time to get something done about it."

Lisa nodded, but was still shocked that a command job could be so…corrosive.

He sat down, searched for some papers, and then looked at her with a hard look on his face.

"Cadet Hayes, as you know, Cadet Riber has been AWOL for over twenty-fours hours now, and you know why, am I correct?"

Lisa nodded, "Yes sir, I do know, sir. Cadet Riber was charged with rape, sir, and fled the base in hopes of not having to stand trial for those charges sir," Lisa said with all her conviction.

Karl may have turned out to be a piece of shit, but she had loved him, and still now, even with hate for Karl consuming her, a small, illogical part of her held out some emotion for him.

"Do you know what happened that night, Cadet Hayes?"

"Yes sir, I do, myself, and three other Navy cadets went off to find Cadet Riber at a location we were told he would be at, when we arrived…" Lisa hesitated, not knowing if she should bring Hunter into this, but she knew that if he was here, then he was already involved.

"When we arrived," Lisa continued, "we met up with some Air Force Cadets who were in the process of looking for the woman that accused Cadet Riber of rape," Lisa failed to mention the part about how the woman was Hunter's girlfriend, or how Karl was her boyfriend.

"Upon meeting them there, we, three of the Air Force Cadets, and the Navy Cadets went to the room to confront Cadet Riber," Lisa said coolly, her voice betraying her mind.

'Confront is hardly what I think we all had in mind,' she told herself.

"Upon entering the room, sir, we found only the woman in question to be there crying, myself and the Navy Cadet's left the room, knowing that there was nothing there for us." Lisa told him.

The commandant stopped her there, "Why were you cadets even there in the first place?"

"Um, well, you see, Sir…"

"Cadet Hayes, are you telling me that you and Cadet Riber are romantically involved?"

_Oh, hell, he was going to find out anyway. _"Yes, sir," she said, glancing at the ground. "We are, sir."

"Don't worry, you won't get in trouble for that. This isn't the first instance of such an occurrence at this post, and it won't be the last. Just tell me the truth: are you answering my questions based on what you know to be true, or based on emotions for your fellow cadet?"

"I am telling you the truth to the best of my ability, sir."

"From what it sounds like to me, you don't believe there was a rape at all, is that what you're telling me Cadet Hayes, don't mince words with me either."

Lisa looked him full in the face, "No sir, I don't believe a rape had occurred; when we arrived, she was not hysterical, she was not hurt, she was just sitting on the bed, crying, mumbling about being sorry."

He nodded, "Cadet Hayes, I only have one question left for you: Do you think Cadet Riber raped the woman, was capable of raping her?"

"Sir, people are capable of anything, but no sir, I don't think he raped her, and I don't think he would be able to either, sir," Lisa told him, all her emotions now welling up inside of her.

He looked at her, and exhaled, "Thank you Cadet Hayes, you're excused, please go and tell Cadet Hunter I would like to see him."

Rick watched the clock nervously and suppressed his anxiety, and strangely enough, his lust. Something about the brunette woman made something stir in him, and not in the usual way pretty women made that stir. It felt oddly…gratifying.

'Wow, this is sad, I don't even know her name and I want to get in her pants…but to he honest, is that really a surprise,' he asked himself, and he knew the answer, 'men will be men.'

He hadn't noticed the door open, and he was even more surprised when she walked over to him and told him that the commandant wanted to talk to him.

"What about," Rick asked, looking her over and examining her looks with more scrutiny then he had ever before. She was very well concealed in her uniform, but that just made her better looking to Rick, who always appreciated a good woman in an equally good uniform.

"I can't really say, but all I can tell you is that it's nothing we did," Lisa said, studying Rick now, and wondering on some level if maybe he would be willing to help her out of a jam.

"I'll wait here for you," she said, and when that drew a startled look, she hastily added, "I just wanted to ask something."

Rick smiled and gave her a roughish wink, and Lisa rolled her eyes, wondering if she was making the right decision by considering asking him for help.

Rick gave a few knocks on the door and heard a sharp "Come in," and he opened the door and saluted.

"Cadet Rick Hunter, reporting sir," he said smartly, and dropped his salute as the commandant lazily returned Rick's.

He sat down and looked at the commandant, someone he talked to so many times before, so he was nearly on a first name basis with the man.

"So, Larry, what's the deal," Rick asked, knowing that he wouldn't care being addressed by his first name.

"Well Rick, it has to do with the other night, when Anna filed rape charges against that Riber cadet from across the way, you know, one of those squids," he said, meekly gesturing towards the general area where the Naval ROTC was.

Rick sighed, not really in the mood for any of the usual hard head question and answer bullshit that usually went along with these types of things.

"I know you and Anna have been close for a while," Larry said. "Did she and Riber do the hoochie-coo in the motel before you got there?"

"Yes, they were," Rick said. "Look Larry, as much as I don't like the little prick, I can tell you what I saw, and what I know. When we got into the room, she was crying, she didn't say anything about being raped, which I think she would have if we had all gotten into the room," he finished, recalling the events of that night, keeping a cool demeanor, and air of indifference, almost blasé, but on inside, he was feeling the pain.

"So are you saying that she made it all up," Larry asked, his voice bordering on incredulous.

Larry was a little put off; here was another person who was saying the same thing. That Anna was lying, but he knew that he it wasn't enough on it's own to dismiss it all, not that it was his to dismiss.

"Well, in that case, do you think he raped her Rick," Larry asked him.

Rick thought a minute and knew that he had to shoot it straight with Larry, they were buddies, and went way back, or as far back as Rick got here.

"No Larry, I don't think he did anything, besides, Rodney saw him sneaking out of the window, no clothes, no nothing to hide who he was, what kinda idiot would be that stupid," Rick said.

Larry looked at Rick again and just nodded his head, "Get outta here Rick, and stay out of trouble. Oh, and Rick," Larry said, looking at him seriously now, "be careful with that one Rick, she's an admirals daughter, you don't want to piss off an admirals daughter."

It took Rick a second to figure out that he was referring to Lisa, and he nodded and flashed him a thumbs up, "No worries Larry, I'll be fine, you know me."

Larry made a sour face, "Yeah, that's what bothers me, now, git on outta here boy, git, git, git," he drawled in his southern accent.

Rick walked out the door and looked at Rodney and jerked his thumb towards the door, and Rodney gave a loud groan.

He got up and looked at Rick with a sad face and walked into the office that they had all been in so many times before.

Rick walked over to Lisa and sat down next to her, but as soon as he sat down, she got up and nodded for the door. Rick, for his part, groaned and got back up and followed her out of the building.

They continued to walk, and talk to one another about things, nothing in particular, but everything in general. She finally stopped them having found their way to the beach, and now stood solemnly together.

"Look, Lisa-" Rick started, but she held out a hand. Neither could deny that there was some mutual attraction there. But both knew it was too soon, and that they could nothing more for each other now than fill some emotional void left by each others no most recent ex.

"Rick, I was wondering, if it isn't too much of a bother," she started, her voice failing, but she had to ask. But it was hard, she and Karl had planned on doing this together, and now that he was gone, she needed someone to do the senior showcase with her.

"Will you do the senior showcase with me Rick," Lisa asked, not having felt his awkward asking someone in this manner since being in middle school and asking her first boy on a date.

Rick gave her a slightly surprised look, and smiled, "Depends," he said, his voice full of man mischief.

"It's a dance," she said, and saw Rick blanch slightly.

But as he made the face, other thoughts of a Lisa in a tight leotard, and skin tight clothes excited Rick.

"Sure Lisa, I'll help," he said, not caring what it was, only caring to catch more glimpses of Lisa in something more…flattering.

Rick smiled, but he could see that Lisa was tearing up, and some of those tears had already run down her face. Rick was shocked, he was thinking of anything he may have said that might have been offensive, but he couldn't think of any.

He pulled her into a hug, and held her tightly, surprising himself and her too.

She pulled back a little, and looked at Rick, seeing the same pain in his eyes, but also caring and kindness. She smiled weakly.

The smile was all Rick could take as he leaned in and slowly kissed Lisa, something he had thought about since he had seen her at the football game. To his utter surprise, and a wonderful boost to his already burgeoning male ego, she didn't resist him, and seemed to melt into the kiss.

Lisa's mind raced, she hadn't expected him to kiss her, but she didn't complain when he had, and to her utter amazement, she actually felt herself enjoying it.

'How long has it been since I've been with a good man,' Lisa asked herself and then she remembered it had been years.

But she knew it was bad, not the kiss, oh no, not the kiss, she liked it very much, but the timing was very bad. She pulled away, and looked at him. She quickly placed a hand to his lips and smiled at him.

"Listen hot-shot, you may be cute, but I don't think now is a good time, maybe some other time," she said with a wink that said something else, and an alluring wave good-bye.

Rick found himself admiring her more now than he had moments before as she walked away from him. He was attracted to her in a bad way, and he was almost certain she was attracted to him too.

'If she looks back again, she's got it for you too,' Rick said to himself excitedly.

Lisa gave another look back, and smiled at him once more, considering the idea of walking back to him and maybe just seeing where things went.

'No, Lisa, don't do that now, if things hold, he'll be around later,' she said confidently.

As she walked away from Rick, she failed to see him pump his fist and then turn and watch her walk away. She was too busy thinking about how much she had actually enjoyed the kiss.

AN: Chapter Five is finally up! And now the greatest love story of a generation has its roots revealed at last. Enjoy, folks. Reviews needed/welcomed.


	6. Bombs bursting in a young lover's heart

Chapter VI 

"He did _what?!?_" the Trio squealed in delight when Lisa told them about the kiss.

"Yes, you heard right," Lisa said, still slightly starstruck. She still felt the tingle on her lips, and the scent of his aftershave, though diminished by sweat from the combat of early that morning, was still strong enough to stay with her as she lay back on the couch in the common area of the room, and that scent brought the hint of potential for the future.

"Lisa, honey, are you okay? I mean, you've been through a lot in the past 72 hours," Claudia asked, with sisterly concern.

"I'm fine, Claudia. This _isn't_ my first near-death experience, you know," she said, her tone light, but her emerald eyes haunted by the memory.

"I don't mean that," Claudia responded. "I mean, it's only this morning when you found out about Karl going AWOL, now you're trying to act like nothing's wrong?"

"I guess, Claudia, that I've been slowly making peace with this possibility for a long time now, but never wanted to tell myself the truth, and now that I have time to reconcile myself to it, I don't want to," Lisa said, teary-eyed and not willing to continue.

Vanessa and the girls all gathered around Lisa, gathering her in a group hug as Lisa gave herself over to tears and buried her face in Claudia's shoulder. Claudia enfolded her "little sister" in her comforting embrace for several long moments, enough for her to get her tears back under control.

Just as Lisa grabbed some tissues and dried her eyes, the phone rang. Sammie grabbed for it, answering, "Black Pearl cadet barracks, Cadet Porter speaking."

Her eyes went wide for a moment, motioning for Lisa to take the phone. "Who is it," Lisa asked.

"Your father, Lisa," Sammie said, and handed Lisa the phone.

"Hi, dad," she said. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, Lisa dear, just fine," he replied. "I'm actually standing outside your building, right here on the quad."

"You're where," she yelled with surprise.

"Yes, I'm right outside; I didn't want to barge in, I didn't want you ladies to be underdressed for the occasion," he quipped.

"Daa-ad," she sighed, exactly as she did when she was a teenager.

Donald Hayes became 'dad' again, instead of 'sir'. "I'm on my way up, Lisa."

"Sure, see you in a few moments, dad," she replied, then gave everyone a look that said, "hide the booze and hide the dishes."

The ladies scrambled to make their abode more livable and presentable. Then, Admiral Hayes knocked on the door, and Lisa greeted her father and welcomed him into their communal living quarters. "Nice decorations," he commented non-commitally.

"Thanks, dad," she said, smirking. "But I'm willing to bet my commission you didn't come over here from Fleet Command to inspect the wall hangings."

"You're right, Lisa. I came to invite you ladies out to an evening of dinner and dancing tonight. I felt that you girls deserved it, after what you did to help save the Akagi." he said with an expansive, contagious smile.

Vanessa, Kim, and Sammie all giggled, Claudia smiled, and Lisa stammered out her thanks. "Just one question, Admiral," Claudia said.

"Please, I'm off duty, call me 'Mr. Hayes,' Claudia. But I'll guess what your question is, and yes, Lieutenant Fokker will be attending the dinner tonight."

Claudia's face lit up faster than sunrise on Mercury, then she settled down and brought her emotions back under control. "Thank you for the good news, sir. Please pass my compliments along to Lt. Fokker when you see him next."

"I will, indeed, Claudia. And," Admiral Hayes said, moving towards the door, "I'll see you ladies tonight. The car will be in front of your dorm at 1830 hours. Dress casually, but classy, and be ready for some fun. If you have dates, they're more than welcome to attend, as well."

The door closed, and the Trio all gushed and giggled. "Maybe we ought to call up those Air Force guys," Sammie smiled. "A few of them looked really dreamy."

Vanessa joked in a semi sing-song voice, "It'll give you a chance to finish what you started with Rick, Lisa."

Lisa felt herself turn bright red, saying, "Quiet, guys, my father's still outside somewhere."

"Oh, stop being such a wet blanket, Lisa," Claudia said, obviously glad that Lisa had found a new man to be interested in. "You're young, you're beautiful, and you're single. Live it up, girl; you won't get too many chances for it after graduation."

Kim was faster on the draw, however, and was already calling the men's barracks…

Ben was closest to the phone when it rang, which gave Rick a brief respite from the ribbing they were all giving him after he told them he had kissed Lisa. They tagged him with names like "Ladykiller," and "Social Climber," the second name coming from Ben, himself, after they learned Lisa was an Admiral's daughter.

"Peanut gallery, which nut do you want," Ben said in greeting the caller, gathering a shower of pillows from the guys on the couch. "Hey, guys, cease fire, there are ladies on the other end of the line!"

The couch crowd cheered, and Ben smiled, then spoke again, "We're being invited out to dinner, guys."

"Where to, dude," Max asked.

"Some Japanese/American fusion restaurant over north of the Harbor. We're all invited, Lisa's father is taking them out to celebrate their first combat mission, and they think we deserve some of that credit, too, for some strange reason," he finished with an arrogant smirk on his face.

Rick's face twitched momentarily; dinner with Lisa, he thought. Great; now that I'm crushing on her, I have to go meet her dad, too, and look like an idiot.

"Tell them we'll be there," Rodney said. "I hear the food is excellent, and the music is great."

"Not to mention your assessment of the waitresses, bud," Alan teased.

Rick rolled his eyes, though he was clearly enjoying the idea of possibly seeing Lisa again. "What time do we have to be ready?"

"1815, dress is casual but classy," Ben replied. "We'll be escorting the young ladies to dinner, guys. What do you think?"

They all yelled their agreement to the idea, and Ben relayed their readiness to Kim. "So it's a go, doll," he said.

"Whatever," she replied, and he could imagine her rolling her eyes on the other end of the phone.

"Catch you then; bye for now."

"Bye," she concluded, and then hung up.

Around the appointed hour, Rick looked at his sport coat for the hundredth time in the last few minutes. "Stop it, will you," Max said. "You're making me nervous."

"It's not every night you get to dine out with the daughter of an admiral," Rick said.

"Listen to the man; 'dine out'," Ben joked. "This place will be hopping on the dance floor, and you'll be able to scope out some primo chicks. This isn't really a fancy dining place, Rick. It's fancy enough to need a sport jacket, but relaxed enough where you don't need a tie. Just relax."

Rick smiled, but looked at his shoes. Being single again was new to him, but the feelings, raw emotion, that Lisa had evoked in him was invigorating, as if someone had fed his lungs helium instead of oxygen; he was feeling lighter than air, nervous and excited and brave and shy all at once. He felt like he could take on the whole world before dinner, and yet he was nervous about going to meet Lisa and her father for the main course. What if he didn't measure up? What if he stuck his foot in his mouth and looked like an ass?

Alan slapped Rick on the back, hard. "Lighten up, dude. We'll all be drinking and partying, probably even the Admiral will loosen up a bit. Don't knock yourself out trying to not look stupid."

"That's not who I'm afraid of embarrassing myself in front of, Alan," Rick muttered.

Rodney rolled his eyes. "You mean that brunette from the motel? Relax; you'll do fine."

Rick, though, wasn't so sure. The name "Hayes" rang a distinct bell in his head, though it had taken him the better part of a few days to determine why. Pops had told him of an acquaintance named Don Hayes that he had made back in 'Nam, on the carrier his squadron, "Aces and Eights," had been stationed on. They used to be the best of friends, but got into some sort of falling out after a mission Pops had led resulted in the death of one of their mutual friends.

He shook himself out of his reverie as they piled into the military Jeep that served the cadets as their ride, and drove over to the ladies' dorm so they could escort them to dinner, discussing who would be paired with whom as they went.

Alan was the first to the door, and was floored by what he saw. He was afraid he had overdone the chivalry thing by buying flowers, but now that he saw his date for the evening, he was glad he did. Standing at the door, waiting for the guys to arrive, was one of the ladies (he thought her name was Vanessa), standing in the doorway. At 5'4, she stood about chest high to him normally, but, as a final compliment to her outfit for the evening, she was in heels, and thus was able to look him in the eye. She wore a cobalt blue blouse, knee-length black skirt, and, it appeared, she was bare legged for the evening, which was already heavy with moisture that hinted at forthcoming rain.

"Um, hello," he stammered. "I'm Alan, nice to meet you."

"My name is Vanessa," she said, as he reached for her hand, and kissed the back of it by way of an elegant greeting, and then offered her the flowers he had clutched in his left hand. She offered him a bemused, shy smile as she accepted the flowers and rushed inside to put them in water.

"That one's mine," she winked at Kim and Sammie.

"That's ok," Sammie said. "I'll take the next tallest one; he's kinda cute."

Kim just giggled and pointed at Ben. "I'll take him, he's handsome, too."

Vanessa herded her friends out onto the quad, introducing them to their companions. "Sammie, this is Rodney, and Ben, I think you know Kim already, right," she teased.

The other gals appraised their dates with a critical eye, then linked arms and walked back to the car. Rick looked at the doorway, hoping to be the first of his friends to see Lisa in her outfit for the evening.

Then, she appeared, a vision of beauty, every inch the definition of that over-worn analogy. Her brunette locks came down to her shoulders, her emerald eyes shone with the glint of the setting sun, accenting the teal top and clingy white pants that exhibited her curves. Rick reminded himself of his gentlemanly obligations, offered her his hand, and escorted her to the curb, as a nice large limo pulled up.

"I guess this is our ride," Lisa deadpanned, marshalling them into the car and off to dinner.

AN: It's been a loooong time since we updated, sorry. We were trying to develop some backstory. Hope that the revelations will work for you. Enjoy; read and review!


	7. Fire 'em up!

Chapter VII 

Rick's eyes continued to follow Lisa, and for a reason he knew, but didn't want to admit, he knew why he couldn't take his eyes off of her. Even as they stood there next to one another, he would look over and steal glances of her. It made him smile, it took him back to when he was younger, and thinking he could get away with quick looks.

After everyone got into the limo, he stood there and let her get in first. She smiled, he smiled back at her, and climbed into the limo, which by now had become a tad crowded.

Rick sat down next to Lisa and smiled at his friends who all seemed to be having either the same thoughts, or in the case of one, even worse thoughts.

There was a silence that seemed to be unbreakable, until someone said something, Rick didn't remember who, it might've been Alan, or Rodney, but someone said something and the conversations started. Rick didn't notice, all he was paying attention to was Lisa, because it seemed to be the only thing he could focus on.

The ride, for Rick, was uneventful, as he enjoyed and savored the nearness of Lisa, something he hadn't felt since he had started going out with Anna.

He grimaced at the thought of her name; it still meant something to him, not a good thing so much anymore, but something that had changed his perspective of himself, and everything he had been through. He had at one point wondered if it had been something he had done, and it made him feel inferior.

It hurt Rick to think about Anna, and things that even remotely had anything to do with her, and he pushed the emotions back, deeper into his mind, determined to ignore them.

He smiled, and told himself he'd enjoy the fact that he was with friends, and pretty women, and better yet, they had all survived their first taste of combat; it was something Rick was not surprised at, but knew they were lucky about anyway.

He knew everyone here was superbly trained, but the odds of all of them getting out of combat alive, it was shocking, but again, not terribly surprising.

But, lost in Rick-Land, he had failed to notice that the limo had stopped, and that everyone was beginning to exit the limo, but Lisa had stayed by his side for a moment, seemingly waiting for him to move so they could exit the limo together.

He made a move to get out, but Lisa stopped him. She looked at him, her face radiant, and her smile gorgeous. Rick took it all in, and loved it all.

She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and smiled at him again, "Thank you for everything," she told him before she crossed over him and got out of the limo.

Rick stayed put, afraid that if he moved, he'd wake up in his room, but a hand reached in and was pulling on his shirt, "Come on Rick," Lisa told him, "hurry up, everyone is waiting."

Rick smiled to himself smugly, 'Nope, not a dream,' he thought to himself.

He got out and observed the place; it was a blend of a club and a Japanese Steakhouse, the place where the man who cooks for you also puts on a show for you. He smiled, he liked those places, but this one even swankier than any he had ever seen, and thankfully, ever had to pay for.

This brought Rick back, and he thought about Lisa's father. Donald Hayes was his name. He remembered hearing some things from Roy about the man, and what his father and Donald's past. It made Rick a little nervous to know that Lisa's father may already not like him, before he even had a chance to make him not like him.

'If he's not going to like me, at least let me be the reason, not Pops,' Rick thought.

He offered Lisa his arm and she took it graciously, and smiled at him and Rick felt a tingle run up his spine.

Despite the fact that Lisa was very pretty, and he was attracted to her, he was afraid that perhaps he would find himself not wanting her if he ever did get her.

It bothered him that this could even be a possibility, and he wouldn't ever want to do that to someone else, but at the same time, he felt he owed it to himself to at least give it a chance.

They walked into the restaurant and looked around, taking a moment to let their eyes adjust to the light inside the restaurant. Lisa walked up to the hostess stand, and Rick followed.

Lisa smiled at the woman at the stand and told her name. The woman looked down the list, and stopped at a name and looked up to Lisa and asked them all to follow her.

The party followed the woman, and they walked into the restaurant, past the dance floor, which Rick noticed several members of the female variety in the party eye with eager anticipation. Rick cut his look to Max, the only member of the group who was without a date, and saw Max give a wry smile. Being the single man got him out of having to dance with anyone.

The lady stopped and gestured towards what appeared to be a private room, with the cooking surface that was obviously meant for the chef, and several more empty chairs.

------------------------------

Roy saw Claudia enter with the group, and went over to take her arm, then escorted her back to the table with a smile. Donald, meanwhile, watched as the group of young people walked towards his table, and he surveyed the women, silently thankful that Lisa was at least a marginally good judge of friends.

His expression went sour when he thought about Lisa's last boyfriend, and inwardly shuddered at Lisa's seeming lack of ability to at least judge men in the same way as she judged her friends.

Then his eyes fell on the man what was at Lisa's side, and he immediately tensed up. The man was the spitting image of one of his long ago friends from the Vietnam Era. He felt a wave of nostalgia creep up as he thought about the man that he once considered a brother, who he now regarded as nothing more then an acquaintance.

The young man had to be the son of one Pops Hunter, because there was no doubt about the face, the eyes, and whole person in general, it was definitely Pops son.

Donald remembered the last time he talked to Pops, and it occurred to him that was way back in 1973, back when Vietnam was all but lost, and so it seemed their friendship too.

They had fought the last time they had talked, and it had been because of the death of one of their mutual good friends. Donald blamed Pops, and Pops told him something about it being just the way that it happened for pilots, but Donald had been steadfast in his refusal to believe that, to believe that when someone died because of the mistake of someone else, that it was the way of things.

That had been it, that had been the last time they had exchanged words, and the last Donald heard, Pops had gone back to Oklahoma, and had a family, and the most visible part of his family was standing before him, close, too close, to his daughter.

He reminded himself that despite the saying, the apple can fall some ways from the tree, and he tried to tell himself that he would give the young man a chance, though he knew that he would be more judgmental of him anyway because his daughter had taken a shining to him.

He stood up and introduced himself, the first two who introduced themselves he barely remembered their names, Rooney and Al or something like it. The next two he remembered a bit more because one of them have no date, Max was his name, and he had blue hair. The next one was Ben, and he was memorable because he gave Donald's hand a hard squeeze.

But the man that he was most interested with was the man before him, Pops' boy, and when he took Donald's hand, he could read the young man's eyes and saw that he knew who he was before Donald knew who he was. Donald smiled slyly, advantage to Hunter, he told himself.

Everyone sat down, but Donald never took his eyes off the young man seated next to his daughter, and he knew that he would be keeping an eye on them all night; not that he didn't trust her, he didn't trust him.

The conversation began; Donald asked them about the Akagi mission, knowing this was a safe and neutral beginning before he began to delve into each of them. They all discussed their view of the fighting, and through the conversation, he learned that Rick had been the squadron commander.

'Well, they have that in common,' Donald told himself.

But it couldn't all be bad, there was no way this young man could be like the Pops he knew: roguish, insubordinate, obstinate, and overall just difficult. But as the conversation progressed, he could read more and more of Pops in Rick, and he was getting more and more worried for his daughter.

Donald nodded as Rodney, not Rooney, finished telling about how the Sooner's chased away a squadron of enemy fighters and saved the Akagi.

He averted his gaze to Rick, and looked at Rick, he wanted to know how Pops was doing but he was afraid to come out and ask it. The whole idea of talking about Pops after holding the grudge for so long made Donald a little uneasy.

But he summoned all his courage and looked at Rick.

"So, Rick, how's Mitchell doing these days?" Donald asked, using Pops real name, something few people did.

Rick fixed Donald with a piercing gaze, which made Donald squirm in his seat, something he was unaccustomed too. Despite the intense look that he was getting from the young man, he held his gaze.

The tension was cut when the chef arrived with a flourish, and everyone looked at him and smiled, except Rick and Donald, who were locked in a staring match. Rick finally blinked, and gave Donald a rueful look.

"Pops died a long time ago, he had asked that you come to his funeral, but you didn't," Rick said before he turned his attention away from Donald and to the chef and smiled a wide grin to the man.

Donald spied his daughter's hand move to Rick's as she gave it a slight squeeze. Just then a fire burst on the large grilling surface and it elicited a chorus of "oh's" and "ah's".

He didn't notice, his gaze was still on Rick, as he looked at the young man through the flames, and the fire that was burning barely two feet away was as hot and controlled as the one that burned in him. He had no idea that Pops had died, and if he had known, he would have certainly gone to the old coots funeral, because deep down, he was still a friend, and no matter what happened, he would have helped Pops anyway he could when it came down to it.

He felt a twinge of remorse, and knew that he would never have the chance to ever make his peace with Pops; that'd have to wait until he met him in heaven.

Donald tore his gaze away from the young man, and forced himself to concentrate on the display of quick hands and catlike agility that was in front of him, telling himself that there was nothing he could do about Pops, the man he had regarded as one of his best friends in one of America's most trying times.

The man clanged and banged the metal spatulas around, flipping cracked egg shells into bowls, cracking more eggs on the metal spatula, flicking food around, flames roaring up and making a general show of eating. Apparently this man's mom never told him it was bad to play with your food.

After he finally finished playing with everyone's food, he served it in a fast and quick manner that was not lost on the patrons at the table. They all applauded and the man gave a quick bow and backed away from the group.

Donald smiled as he ate his fried rice and shrimp, listening now to the conversations going on all around him, not wanting to interject for fear or having a similar reaction with them that he did with Rick.

He didn't dislike the young man, but was naturally wary of any man that was trying to take his daughter. Not that he was one of those overbearing fathers….well he was, but he'd never admit it to anyone, himself included.

He smiled as he watched Roy and Claudia talk, knowing that the two of them hadn't seen one another for quite some time. It made him happy to know that he had done something to make another person happy.

His gaze shifted to Rick, he was about to apologize when a song started playing, and everyone who was coupled up looked to their respective date and got up and went to the dance floor, leaving Donald with the blue haired fellow, Max.

Donald looked to Max who wore a cool expression. Donald smiled.

'This is a man who is as cool as the other side of the pillow, he'll be a great pilot,' Donald thought.

"So, Max, how do you like being a pilot," Donald asked.

------------------------------

Rick and Lisa made it out to the dance floor and looked at one another. Rick felt a warm sense of comfort wash over him. He hadn't felt this way for a long time, even when he was with Anna, he never felt so secure and happy.

Rick pulled Lisa close and felt their bodies press together in a way that excited Rick in away that was more than sexual. It was more of a universal yearning, like she was something that would complete him in more that just a carnal lusty way.

He desired her in more than just a "want to sex you up" way.

Rick listened to the song for a second, and recognized it quickly.

A quick tug brought her closer, and Rick moved his face to the side of hers and felt her cheek on his. He smiled, and began to the whisper the words of the song into her ear.

I could stay awake just to hear you breathing  
Watch you smile while you are sleeping  
While you're far away and dreaming  
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender  
I could stay lost in this moment forever  
Well, every moment spent with you  
Is a moment I treasure

Lisa felt warmth in her face, and realized that she was blushing. Rick was singing the song into her ear softly, and it was having an affect on her, one quite unintended.

I don't wanna close my eyes  
I don't wanna fall asleep  
'Cause I'd miss you, baby  
And I don't wanna miss a thing  
'Cause even when I dream of you  
The sweetest dream would never do  
I'd still miss you, baby  
And I don't wanna miss a thing

Rick felt so very cliché and corny, but he didn't really feel like stopping himself.

_Lying close to you  
Feeling your heart beating  
And I'm wondering what you're dreaming  
Wondering if it's me you're seeing  
Then I __kiss your eyes and  
thank God we're together  
I just wanna stay with you  
In this moment forever, forever and ever_

Lisa didn't know if Rick was trying to tell her something without saying it, but Lisa was enamored by the fact that a man was singing to her.

I don't wanna close my eyes  
I don't wanna fall asleep  
'Cause I'd miss you, babe  
And I don't wanna miss a thing  
'Cause even when I dream of you  
The sweetest dream would never do  
I'd still miss you, babe  
And I don't wanna miss a thing

Rick and Lisa held close to one another, swirling and moving slowly, oblivious to world, and the onlookers.

I don't wanna miss one smile  
I don't wanna miss one kiss  
and I just wanna be with you  
Right here with you, just like this  
I just wanna hold you close  
I Feel your heart so close to mine  
And we'll stay here in this moment  
For all the rest of time Yeah  
Yeah Yeah YEAHHHH!!

Anna looked on as she watched two move about, feeling a deep stab of jealousy. She wanted her man back, and this stupid woman was doing her best to take him from her.

I Don't wanna close my eyes  
I Don't wanna fall asleep  
'Cause I'd miss you, babe  
And I don't wanna miss a thing  
'Cause even when I dream of you  
The sweetest dream would never do  
I'd still miss you, babe  
And I don't wanna miss a thing

The song was winding down, and Rick felt an undeniable connection and urge to be with Lisa, something that despite his best attempts had manifested itself.

_I don't wanna close my eyes  
I don't wanna fall asleep  
'Cause I'd miss you, babe  
And I don't wanna miss a thing  
'Cause even when I dream of you  
The sweetest dream would never do  
I'd still miss you, babe  
And I don't wanna miss a thing  
Don't wanna close my eyes_  
_I Don't wanna fall asleep, yeah  
And I don't wanna miss a thing_

Rick finished the song and pulled back and look and saw a look of desire in Lisa's emerald eyes and smiled. She wanted him as bad as he wanted her, even if both of them wouldn't admit it.

They shared one more smile, and as they made their way back to their table, Rick felt a slender, soft hand grab his arm, and when he turned around, he saw the one person he didn't want to see.

There was Anna, bleary eyed, and tottering.

"Rick, you can't be with this hussy, you're mine," she said, words slurring badly.

Rick pulled his arm free, and gave her a fiercely indignant look, "Anna, it is over, please, leave me alone," Rick said as he walked away.

Anna watched as they walked away, now more determined to get Rick back, just not tonight as she felt the bile rise in her throat and the urge to throw up came swarming over her.

Rick and Lisa took their seats again, smiling to everyone.

Donald looked at Rick, and was determined to make his peace with Pops son, have no ill feelings between them. He wouldn't make the same mistake with another Hunter.

"Rick, I'm sorry about Mitchell, I had no idea that he had died. If I had, I would have been there for sure, despite our falling out, Mitch was still one of my closest friends."

Donald watched Rick's face as he digested the information, and smiled and nodded at him.

Donald gave a smile, satisfied that things where better than they had been earlier.

"Now, who wants dessert?" Donald asked as the table responded with an overwhelming

"ME!"

Donald smiled; these were brave young people, all of them having earned his respect. And tonight he'd show them how much an old man appreciated it.

AN: We're starting to crank the romance. "Love is in the air…"


	8. Young love, first love

**_Chapter VIII_**

Ben smiled at Max as they leaned against the bar, drinks in hand. "You seem to be enjoying yourself rather thoroughly tonight, bud," Max chuckled.

"I'm in the presence of great friends, attending a great restaurant, with a gorgeous woman on my arm for the evening. What more could a fella want out of life," he sighed contentedly.

"Um, I should think he may want a more interested date," Max observed. "Kim doesn't seem too happy tonight."

"Oh, damn," Ben said, a little peeved. "It happened earlier than usual tonight."

"What's that," Max asked, worriedly.

"She's lost that lovin' feeling, Max."

"Wha..? Oh, no, no-,"

"Yeah, she's lost that lovin' feeling, Max," Ben said, a determined look in his eye, beckoning the DJ for a microphone.

Max rolled his eyes. "I hate when she does that," he muttered, and grabbed another mic from the DJ, feeling obliged to save his wingman.

Ben strolled over to the section of the room where their dates were sitting, smirked at Kim, and began singing.

_You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips;  
And there's no tenderness like before in your fingertips_

Rick grimaced; Ben was never a good singer, even while totally sober, and tonight, he couldn't have carried a tune in a suitcase if they had handcuffed it to him. He shot Alan, Roy, and Rodney a resigned look, grinned infectiously, and went to ask for more microphones.

_You're trying hard not to show it,  
But baby, baby I know it…_

Roy and Rick came in strong on the chorus, with Alan and Rodney on backup, singing harmony, and Max falling somewhere in between.

_You've lost that lovin' feeling  
Oh that lovin' feeling  
You've lost that lovin' feeling  
Now it's gone gone gone oh oh oh_

The girls looked at each other and laughed, clearly flattered, and yet embarrassed by the show of male ego and chutzpah on display in front of them.

_There's no welcome look in your eyes when I reach for you  
And girl you're starting to criticize little things I do  
Ooh, it makes me just feel like crying (baby)  
'cause baby something beautiful is dying_

Donald smirked. If he hadn't been told so earlier in the evening, seeing Rick up there and serenading the girls confirmed that he was Mitchell's son. "_He's definitely Pop's son...it's just like one of those smooth moves Mitchell used to pull on the waitresses/working girls in Hong Kong,_" Donald thought. "_In fact, I seem to remember bailing his sorry ass out of a song like this a long time ago._"

_  
You've lost that lovin' feeling  
Oh that lovin' feeling  
You've lost that lovin' feeling  
Not it's gone gone gone oh oh oh  
Baby baby i get down on my knees for you  
If you would only love me like you used to_

The pilots flanked the table, with all but Ben looking directly into their date's eyes as they sang and started clapping rhythmically.

_We had a love, a love that you don't find everyday  
So don't don't don't let it slip away (away)_

Then they broke into alternating choruses, Rick, Alan, and Ben on one group, Roy leading the others in growing volume as they got the girls up out of their seats to dance with them.

_I said baby  
Baby  
Baby  
Baby  
I need your love (I need your love)  
I need your love  
So bring it on back (bring it on back)  
Now bring it on back  
Now bring it on back  
You've got to bring back that lovin' feeling  
Oh that lovin' feeling  
Bring back that lovin' feeling 'cause it's gone gone gone  
Oh oh oh  
Bring back that lovin' feeling  
Oh that lovin' feeling  
Bring back that lovin' feeling 'cause it's gone gone gone_

_"Woah-oh-oah!_" Alan finished, exaggeratingly, winking at Vanessa, who batted her eyes at him and smiled, flustered and bright red from her chin to the tips of her ears.

The civilians near the bar offered the pilots a standing ovation, with the women whistling and shouting for an encore. Donald Hayes chuckled at his newfound young friends, smirked, and paid the bill, effectively ending dinner. Roy looked at Claudia, smirked, and offered her his arm, leading her towards a rented corvette in the parking lot. He held her door as she got in, then took his seat, started it up, and burned rubber out of the parking lot.

Rick looked at Donald Hayes, full of gratitude for the dinner they just had, and the great evening he spent with Lisa. "Thank you, sir, both for your company, and for this great dinner," he said, thrusting his hand out to the older man.

Donald grasped Rick's hand warmly. "You're welcome, Rick," he said, grasping every young man's hand and thanking them in turn. "I consider it a great honor and privilege to have met the son of one of the finest pilots and comrades I've ever known in my life."

They all waved goodbye as they filed into the limo and drove away from the restaurant, then smiled at each other and started chatting. Each one of them knew that the night was nowhere near ended.

Alan sighed with contentment as he stared up at the stars, his left arm flexed behind his head, his right hand clasping Vanessa's left as they laid atop a rocky outcropping that jutted out into the harbor. The rock was cool, moss-covered, and smoothed down over centuries (he was guessing) of massive waves and a couple decades of tourist travel. He glanced over at Vanessa as she lay beside him, her glasses left in her shoes at the base of the outcropping. They were both soaked head to toe from the massive waves from that part of the beach. The moonlight shone in her blue eyes as tropical winds blew in off the waterfront. Her ruby lips were drawn into a smile that filled her face from cheek to cheek, her brown hair soaked and plastered to her forehead, and both of them grinned like idiots. He thought to himself, _This has got to be the best date I've ever had in my life._

She looked at him, coyly, and asked, "So, what made you join up, anyway? If you don't mind my asking, that is. I mean, you seem to me to be more of a lover than a fighter."

Alan sighed, closed his eyes, fought back a few tears, and answered slowly. "My father was a Marine," he said softly, so that Vanessa wasn't sure he was even speaking. "Every boy thinks his father is the greatest, but I know mine was one of the best. He was an ironworker, as well as a reservist, and was called up for duty in the Pacific. The Corps shipped him to Wake Island, where he coordinated the air traffic control tower for the Pacific Bomber Command. He was on Wake Island when the Chinese nuked it."

Vanessa hugged him protectively. "I'm so sorry to hear about your father's death, Alan."

"It's okay," he said, slightly embarrassed about his tears. "I didn't mean to depress this lovely evening. So, why did you join up?"

"I've known since I was four that I have certain abilities to, I don't know, predict the immediate future on an imperfect basis. It's as much atmospheric pressure as it is intuition, though."

"So, why'd you join the Navy?"

"I wanted to try and put my limited skills to good use and serve my country," she said, shyly. "My grandfather was a Navy radioman in World War Two, my father was in the Air Force, and I thought that the Navy was for me because I like to swim."

Alan winked at her, "I don't suppose you'd want to swim now?"

"Nah, we're wet enough as it is, and I don't skinny dip on the first date," she winked back.

Alan stood up, smiled, and offered Vanessa his hand. "I often enjoy looking at the harbor at night. I come to this rock often," he said.

"It is pretty," she said, standing up with him. "But why are we standing now?"

He wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her close, and started half singing, half humming _This Night_ by Billy Joel. "Because I've always wanted to dance with a beautiful woman on top of this rock," he said.

They twirled around in the moonlight, lost in each other's eyes.

Their formal evening had broken up around 8pm, Max reflected, but they were all enjoying themselves so much that they took their dates back to the base and decided to break into single groups to continue the fun. Rick and Lisa went back to the ladies' barracks, so he could assist her with some sort of project, Claudia went back with Roy to his hotel room, and Alan, Ben, and Rodney decided that they'd take their dates off somewhere special. Vanessa tugged at Alan's arm, saying something about a carnival, and they ran off to grab a moped and headed for the local fair. Rodney muttered something about taking Sammie to a movie, and Ben just went off randomly with Kim, to parts unknown. Max was used to being the odd man out, he hadn't found anyone to go steady with, and in an odd way, he liked that.

_It's too quiet here,_ Max thought. _Guess I'll head over to the hangar; I doubt the tech crews got around to painting our kills yet._

Rodney smiled at Sammie all throughout the movie. He wasn't paying attention to the plot, the characters, or the dialogue, only to her gorgeous eyes and how they contrasted against, and yet complimented, her red hair. He smiled to himself, feeling happier than he could remember in conscious memory.

The credits started rolling, and he looked deep into her eyes, smiled, and said, "It's 2300, are you tired?"

"No, not one bit," she said. "I haven't felt this awake in a long time."

"Hey, are you hungry," he asked. "There's this all-night Italian café nearby, if you'd like to grab a snack."

"Sure, I think I know the place you mean," she said. "Giorgio's, right?"

"Yeah, I love their garlic bread," he smiled.

"I could do with that, too," she said. They linked arms and ran like school children two blocks over to the café.

Placing their order, Rodney smiled and looked once more into Sammie's eyes. She grinned, then said, "Careful, you'll get lost in there."

"I'm lost in your eyes already," he smirked. "You truly captivate me."

"Wow," she giggled.

"What, did I say something wrong?"

"No, it just usually takes more than one date to get that reaction," she winked.

"Dare I ask what reaction you get on the first date," he suggested.

She slapped his hand playfully. "I think you know, Rodney"

"No, I don't; care to enlighten me?"

Sammie leaned in to kiss him, but their moment alone was interrupted by the waiter bringing the wine and garlic bread.

Ben led Kim as they ran through the streets of Oahu's downtown carnival, pausing every so often to soak in the sights and smells of the festivities. "Ben, slow down," Kim shouted, laughing and panting. "I can hardly keep up with you."

"I'm sorry," he said, grinning like a fool. "I just get so giddy when I go to a street festival, it's all so happy and overwhelming."

"I know what you mean," she smiled, "but I can't do anything at the carnival if you yank my arms off!"

He bought her a white rose from a vendor that just happened by, and offered it to her by way of apology. "Thank you," she said. "I think it's beautiful."

The street bands were playing a myriad of melodies, and when they struck up a 1950's era sock hop tune, Ben bowed gallantly. "Your dancing pleasure awaits, milady," he quipped, gently guiding her left hand into his and wrapping his left arm around her waist, assuming a proper position for the dance, and they started hopping to the beat like a greaser and his gal would have in decades past.

The music changed a few times, and they were able to keep up with the beats, dancing half the night away, and stealing kisses when the mood struck them…

Lisa stood outside the bathroom for the quad apartment; she was already in costume and waiting for Rick to slip into his matching outfit of dress shirt, bow tie, black topcoat with tails, and top hat, and a cane. Rick would wear pants, while Lisa would wear black nylons; they both would wear red cummerbunds around their waists, as well, with tap shoes completing the ensemble.

"Oh, Rick," Lisa called out, "Are you almost finished with that outfit?"

"I feel like an idiot," he complained half-heartedly.

"And that's different from how, exactly," she sniped jokingly.

"How did you talk me into this, again," he asked.

"My feminine wiles convinced you," she quipped. "And I needed a handsome assistant for this routine."

He smiled, knowing he would lose that particular battle. "Okay, so what's the first move?"

"First, you tap your toe, then shift the weight of your foot to your heel, and swing your foot forward to tap your heel," she said, and observed him getting it, after five or so repetitions.

"Good job. Now, we'll practice tapping sideways, it's like you football players doing your sideways running drills. It's all just footwork and crossovers. Give it a go."

Rick got that part of it, too, and Lisa started the music; the song "Puttin' on the Ritz" by Taco came on. Lisa said, "Now, I'm going to be the more active one, here. I'll be doing a lot of spinning and turning, just remember to catch me if I spin towards you, and catch my leg if it comes near your head. Ok?"

He nodded, and shuffled his feet in time to the music, as Lisa twirled and spun around him in a complicated series of taps that were a lot faster than he could attempt. They looked at each other with hunger in their eyes, and passion unbridled in their hearts. The smiles on their lips merely gave a frame to the passion within each of them, and by the time Lisa came close enough to make her first high kick and rest her left leg on Rick's right shoulder, he lost all pretense at self control and kissed her ankle lightly.

Lisa squirmed with passion, shocked that Rick's kiss there would provoke such an intense reaction, and wanting only to give herself over to the sensations that she was experiencing at that moment. She lowered her leg and looked him full in the face, her eyes hungry for more, and his lips not willing to be denied the object of their hunger. She felt his handsomely cruel lips crushing down on hers with ferocity, and she willingly parted hers to slake his hunger. She lifted her right leg to wrap around his waist, and he gingerly picked her up and carried her back to her dorm bed, where they both gave in to their animal desires and wanton behavior.

AN: Hope this gets you all drooling...and, lest we forget ourselves, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" was a tribute to the scene in "Top Gun" and the song is by the Righteous Brothers...and the song from the last chapter, "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing," is by Aerosmith.


	9. Beginnings and Endings

Chapter IX

Rick clinched his eyes closed a little tighter and tried to ignore the sound that was echoing in the back of his head. It was typical of his roommates to wake up and screw with one another, shaving cream in the hand, fingers in hot water, but this was a new one.

Humming in the morning? Alan must be getting desperate.

He rolled over and groped around for a pillow, and upon finding one, covered his head with it, muttering and cursing about damn humming, and how annoying it was. In spite of what his mind was saying about his idiot friends, and stupid pranks, something was telling that it wasn't Alan humming aloud, and in a very feminine voice for that matter, despite the fact that he had some feminine aspects in his voice.

Rick struggled, trying to figure out what his mind was trying to connect, but try as he might, he couldn't. Then he felt something flop onto the bed and he groaned and opened his eyes.

If he was having a hard time before, he wasn't anymore; he remembered it all now. He smiled to himself.

"Well hello gorgeous," Rick said looking at Lisa, his expression changed to that of a confused in thought look, "what's your name again."

Lisa's expression changed and she got a menacing look on his face, that turned into a menacing smile, "Oh, forgot my name have you," she asked in a haughty tone, "well, it's ok, you were pretty forgettable too," she said with sly look on her face.

Despite the sarcasm and wildly obvious humor in her tone, Rick cringed a little at the thought of being that forgettable. While some women he knew would say otherwise, for some reason, the friendly barb stung a little, rubbing him just a little the wrong way.

"Well, sorry," Rick said, tone a little harsh, but his tone still mirthful, "I didn't know I had to live up to anything, especially in light of what you had been with, I thought I would have towered over the competition," Rick said, pushing buttons.

Lisa's expression changed, her smile fell, and a somber look came over her.

Rick reached for her, putting a hand on her shoulder, and smiled at her, "Sorry babe, I didn't mean to upset you," Rick told her, trying to reassure her.

She smiled a little, and curled up next to Rick, feeling his warmth, felling his arms wrap around her, making her feel safe, making her feel like everything was going to be alright in a world where anything and everything was still very much up in the air.

"I just don't know how ready I am to see him again," Lisa said to Rick.

She felt odd, feeling like she was divulging too much to someone that she had only met a handful of times and only spoken to as many times. Now she found him in her bed, spilling her soul to him.

Lost in thought, she was suddenly aware that he had pulled her closer to him, making her feel happier, and more secure than she had in the last few weeks. She looked at him, hoping that this wasn't something random, something meaningless. She hoped to herself that it was something vastly more substantial.

"Rick, what becomes of us," Lisa asked, hoping for the best, but steeling herself for the absolute worst.

He looked down to her, thinking about her question, asking himself the same thing for the first time. He had thought that he was still torn by Anna, but something had changed that, and he knew what it was now.

"Well, what do you want to happen to us," Rick asked, "because if you don't want anything serious, I guess I understand, I don't agree, but understand."

Lisa looked to Rick, not sure about what he said, trying to still process it. Why wouldn't she want something serious?

'But how's he supposed to know that,' Lisa asked herself.

She looked him over, looking for any sign of disingenuous behavior, or just to feel him out, get a sense of whether he was on the level or not.

A wave of happiness washed over Lisa and she knew exactly why. A tremendous weight still bore down on her, she knew why about that too.

"Rick, I don't want to see him, I don't care if he did it or not, I don't want to see Karl again. The idea of him, and what he did makes me…makes me sick," Lisa said, burying her head into Rick's chest.

Rick, for his part, held onto Lisa a little tighter and pulled her close all at once.

"I know, I know," Rick cooed to her, reassuring her. He hadn't known her long, but he knew well enough that this wasn't normal behavior for a woman like her. That to break down to someone like she was now was not something that she would normally have done.

"I don't want to have to deal with it either, it makes all of this," Rick gestured to the room and everything around them, "all of this seem so unreal, or real, because the last twelve hours with you have been unreal in a good way."

She smiled up at him, "You know, you're a goof ball," she told him picking at him coyly.

Rick smiled and pulled Lisa to him and kissed her again, this time having thought about it instead of giving into the carnal urges that had bubbled up in him last night, but he didn't regret it, just like he didn't regret this now.

He liked Lisa, cared about her in a way that he hadn't realized that he had only a few days before. In spite of all that, he had no regrets about Lisa, and for that matter, no reservations about what he was doing now, and based on Lisa's reactions to him, she didn't either.

They broke the kiss, and looked at one another for a few moments until Rick rolled over on top of Lisa and looked at her, a wild look in his eyes, along with a mirthful tinge to it.

Lisa's surprised look was replaced by a coy sensual look, "Oh, someone is a bit assertive aren't they," Lisa asked rhetorically.

Rick gave her a smart look, "Forgettable am I," Rick asked a twinge of sarcasm and anticipation in his voice. He began to kiss Lisa's neck and let his hands roam all over her.

Lisa arched her head back and let a moan escape her mouth. Rick smiled.

------------------------------

Lisa closed the door, smiling as she ushered Rick out so that he could go get ready for the trial.

She made a sour face as she thought about it, 'The trial, the one thing I have been dreading having to deal with was now here.'

For Lisa, it wasn't that she felt that Riber should have been able to get away with going AWOL, and conduct unbecoming of an officer of the United States Navy, it was the insult of also being charged with rape.

Lisa knew better, it hadn't been rape, it had been a lie, a sham, and nothing more than just lust, but rape it was not. Lisa could feel the tears welling up in her eyes and she fought to maintain her composure in the face of her overwhelming emotions.

Despite her best attempts to hold the line, defend the walls, and hold back her emotions, she couldn't help it as they burst out of her.

She felt the tears fall down her face and she sank down the door, her back pressed to it all the way. She again tried to pull herself together and retake control of herself, but for everything she got a grasp on, she lost two more.

Her life it seemed was no melting down all around her and there wasn't a damn thing she could do to help herself. Karl had been special to her, she had loved him there was no doubt about it, but this wasn't her happy ending, this wasn't how the story was supposed to end.

As much as Lisa fronted for herself, she knew that at the core there was no denying that she was a woman, and still had that idea of a happily-ever-after, something that she should have known better than to expect in her life.

She cried, crying out everything she had held inside, not just about Karl, but about Rick, the war, her family, crying so hard that she thought that she might run out of tears.

Lisa had never been much of a crier in her life, but she knew the necessity of being able to vent all your emotions, get it all out. But this was more than that, it was the catharsis of her life, of all the most recent happening of her life.

She thought back and remembered that the last time she had cried this hard. It was when her mother had died. That had, and was still the darkest day of her life. Even with all that she had been through in the last few years, nothing could eclipse that day, that cold, bitter day in December.

Lost in her reverie, she had failed to keep track of the time. She absently looked at her watch, and saw that she had only thirty minutes to get to ready for the court-martial. She sighed deeply, picked her head up, dried her eyes and forced herself to restore her "Hayes" cool.

She stood up and walked with grim determination, and an equal amount of dread, to go prepare for the very thing she wanted to avoid like the plague.

'Life's a bitch,' Lisa thought.

-----------------------------

Rick sat idly on the couch in the guys' dorm. He looked around, the only one he saw was Max, the only one last night who had been without a date, but still ever the trooper and threw himself out there with the rest of them on the "You Lose That Lovin' Feelin'" that capped the night.

It still brought a smile to his face, that and the amazing night he had spent with Lisa, and all the fun they had had with one another. Rick smiled, the childish reference to sex and calling it fun still made him smile and chuckle.

But Rick knew it was getting close to that time. His smile quickly disappeared into a tight lipped frown. It wasn't something that Rick had been looking forward to in the slightest, as a matter of fact, he had been dreading it with every fiber of his being.

He had no hate for Karl, a dislike, but that was to be expected for what role he played in the demise of his relationship. Even if it had more to do with Anna's seeming inability to be content.

Despite what he had now, or seemed to have with Lisa, it was something that he was not happy about having to deal with. This was one of the few times that he would have preferred to have run away from the issue.

Rick steeled himself, and got up to go prepare for the court-martial. He stopped where he stood and felt a tear run down his face, the last tearing of a world that had seemed so happy, so close, yet a million miles away. It was the passing of a simpler time, the tearing away from youth and the start into adulthood.

'Why does life have to be such a bitch,' Rick asked himself.

Rick entered the hearing room with Max flanking him on his left, noticing that Alan, Rodney, and Ben were there already, mostly rested but still with a bleary-eyed look that suggested that they were not yet fully recuperated from the prior evening's events. He smiled at them all, then sat down with his back ramrod-straight on the back of the bench, waiting for the show to begin.

Lisa trembled as she walked unsteadily towards the hearing room; it took both Claudia and Vanessa to flank her to make sure she didn't stumble. Her heart was made of lead; she couldn't think straight, and was having trouble focusing her vision. She was walking in a fog; this was all too surreal for her liking. Fortunately, it shouldn't last too long, in her mind; one of the charges, rape, would be thrown out for lack of supporting evidence, and the others, conduct unbecoming and desertion, would be impossible to refute.

The ladies took their benches on the opposing side of the aisle from the guys, and waited for the JAG, a Lieutenant Colonel Adams, to enter. That could be a good thing, Lisa mused; Adams wasn't known for excessive formalities and drawn-out procedurals; she figured they could probably leave without being called, but would have to stick around for the formalities anyway.

They didn't have long, as the bailiff entered, and the hearing got underway.

Anna got up on the stand first, and made for a poor witness for the prosecution. She appeared drunk, hung over, poorly dressed, sporting hair that Cousin It would be ashamed of. She rambled on and on in her answers, to the point that the defense counsel declined to cross-examine her on grounds that she already did his job for him.

"Cadet Hayes, please step forward," the bailiff called out.

Lisa stood up, fought off a wave of nausea that swept over her, and walked with parade precision to the witness stand. The bailiff swore her in, and the prosecutor fired away. "Cadet Hayes, please tell the court about what happened the night of the 16th?"

"My squad mates and I were enjoying dinner, when we received a phone call saying my then-boyfriend, Karl Riber, was at the Pink Coral Motel with another woman. We…"

"Excuse me for interrupting, Ma'am, but you're referring to the defendant and the prior witness, correct?"

"Yes, I am," Lisa said. "We, meaning my friends and I, rushed to the motel immediately, where we found the Air Force cadets likewise pulling up to the motel…"

"You mean Cadets Hunter, Stirling, Dixon, Wakefield, and Abernathy?"

"Yes, I do. We all entered the room, room 205, and saw the previous witness crying and begging forgiveness from Cadet Hunter."

Lisa's voice started to shake a little, and she coughed as the prosecutor asked her next question. "Was Cadet Bucholtz in shock at all?"

Lisa looked at Anna from across the courtroom, who was glaring red hot daggers at Lisa. "Only in that she was found out, Ma'am."

"Objection," the defense counsel said. "Speculation."

"Sustained," Col. Adams intoned.

The prosecutor tried another tack. "How did Cadet Riber react to your sudden entrance?"

"He went out the window, trying to escape from us," Lisa answered.

"Then what happened?"

"Cadet Abernathy caught him in the alley, and Cadet Riber tried fighting his way out, so Abernathy gave him a few punches. Then Hunter and I showed up and stopped that."

"Did you hit Cadet Riber?"

Lisa winced. "I did, yes," she answered, clearly embarrassed.

"Did you assault him?"

"No, it was a single blow, and then we all departed."

"Why did you hit him?"

"Because he betrayed me, he broke my heart, and he tried running away from the facts as opposed to staying there and taking it like a man," she cried, fighting the tears back.

"Nothing further, Cadet. You may step down," the judge instructed, calling for a ten minute recess.

Rick looked at Lisa, and felt his heart turn to putty. He saw her red-faced, puffy-eyed, and heartbroken, and every instinct in his body told him to comfort her. But decorum, and the sense that he wasn't sure if she'd accept his comfort, kept him back, sitting across the aisle, as they had to stick to decorum. He looked at his squad mates, and saw them stealing glances at their dates from the prior night, as he pondered what was transforming within himself. He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice Lisa staring at him with a forlorn look, almost beseeching him to comfort her, to be her rock.

The door opened, startling them out of their reverie and to attention. The magistrate entered, and then assumed his position at the head table.

Colonel Adams looked at Karl, who sat shock-straight in the dock, wearing a formal uniform devoid of all insignia. "Cadet Karl Riber, stand at attention."

Karl stood and faced the magistrate, who looked at him and fumed. "Desertion during wartime is an offense that can be considered treasonous, and the penalty for that is death. I have the sworn statements from everyone in the gallery there that attest to your whereabouts two nights ago, and the written statement from the cadet supervisor on duty that you did not sign out properly for your rendezvous. I don't find credible evidence of a rape," he said, "but the other charges are beyond believable, and are, in fact, persuasive. I find you deficient in the character necessary to be an officer in the United States Navy, and I find you to be a deserter."

Karl blanched at the thought of the imminent penalty, and the observers in the box held their breath; would they erect a gallows? Would he be sentenced to prison? What was going to happen next?

"Karl Xavier Riber, I sentence you to be stripped of your cadet status and reassigned to the labor battalions, where you will engage in forced labor for six years, which is the time left on what you would originally have for your commission," Adams said. "In addition, Cadet Anna Bucholtz, step forward."

Anna stood upright and took a step towards the table. "You are hereby remanded into custody for a hearing on similar charges," the judge said. He looked up at the rest of the entourage and said, "Court is adjourned."

AN: This chapter is a bit of a joint effort, and it took a little extra effort, but we hope you like it. Please, please, please…_READ AND REVIEW!!!_ Reviews are food. Please feed us.


	10. Puttin' On A Blitz

Chapter X

It was after dinner, and Rick was putting the finishing touches on his outfit for the evening. "She convinced you to do what, boss," Max asked, in mock horror.

"You must really like that gal," Rodney commented.

"It's gotta be the legs, dude," Alan informed him. "Rick's always been a leg man."

"Har-de-har, guys," Rick grumbled, swatting them each in turn. "It isn't exactly my idea of fun, either, but it helped me out a lot last night," he finished with a grin.

His roomies groaned. "How do you do it, man," Ben griped.

Rick looked in the mirror, straightening his bow tie, and smirked. "It's called culture, class, and being debonair," he said.

"So how does that work for you," Alan sniped. "You sleep through class, and the only culture you have is the bacteria that covers the dirty dishes in your room."

Rick gave him a cool look that suggested Alan had just betrayed him to the Chinese. Then, he raised his left eyebrow and quipped, "This from the man who thought that 'Rear Admiral' was a term from an X-rated movie?"

"Hey, hey, hey," he defended himself, grimacing at the memory of that particular game of Trivial Pursuit. "Alcohol was involved, get off me."

"Sounded just like your last girlfriend there, Alan," Rodney sniped.

Alan raised his hands, signaling surrender. "I get it, I get it."

"No, Rick got it last night," Max commented. "You got wet."

Everyone rolled their eyes over that, ending the conversation. Rick looked at his watch. "Well, I'm off to the theater," he commented. "Try not to bring the tomatoes tonight, guys, I'm making homemade pasta sauce tomorrow for our graduation celebration."

"You convinced him to go for it," the girls cooed.

"Yeah, I did," Lisa said, distractedly. _At least for the dancing part,_ she told herself gloomily.

"Why so glum, chum," Claudia asked.

"Not glum," Lisa reflected. "Just getting nostalgic in advance."

"Ah, graduation jitters, I know them well," Claudia replied, getting animated. "You'll do just fine, honey. Now, just go out there and break a leg."

Lisa looked at the clock; she had to be in the green room in ten minutes. "I'll see you in the crowd," she said, grinning and winking. "Don't wait up for me afterwards."

Rick was seated on the sofa near the far wall of the green room when Lisa entered. They made eye contact, but she couldn't make the dozen or so steps necessary to cross the room towards him because her friends and co-actors swarmed her with everything from sympathy to outrage over the incident with Karl.

His head swarmed with emotion; part of him was upset with himself for being so flippant with Lisa about how they would interact from that point forward, but another, more coldly logical, part rationalized that it was wartime. People died in war. If you let yourself get attached to someone, you will feel it that much harder when they die.

Shaking his head, he knew he was only trying to bullshit himself into fabricating a reason why he shouldn't go for Lisa. His heart was banged up, he told himself. More like a crash landing on the flight deck without a seatbelt, in reality. But he was increasingly falling for her, step by step, tap by tap. He realized, belatedly, that he had been staring at her legs the entire time she had been crossing the room, and that they seemed to go on forever. He shook himself out of that; there was plenty of time for that later that night, if all went well.

_Meanwhile, hurtling through space and time, a gigantic spacecraft, with dimensions greater than the human mind could comprehend, began its final approach towards the Earth, dragging with it the seeds for Humanity's next societal evolution._

Lisa glanced longingly at Rick as her female cast mates babbled incoherently about their last-minute costume disasters, how the PX had run out of makeup for the evening, and other such essentials of collegiate urgency. Feigning a run to the ladies room, she finally broke away from the airheads and the suicide blondes (dyed by their own hands) to achieve some security in the solitary stall away from the rest of the world.

She finally left the stall and crossed to the sink. Looking into the mirror, she took a good, hard look into her soul, and was a little more than slightly upset by what she saw. She'd always heard the rumors about Karl behind her back, but she had refused to believe them even when it was blatantly obvious. _How could I have been so blind,_ she asked herself. Tears threatened to well up inside her as the thought of how humiliated she had been began to overwhelm her, and she fought them back as best she could.

_And what about Rick,_ she thought. There was a shining, new connection between her and that roguish, almost carefree pilot she had shared her bed and life with. Her eyes never lied to her; she was beginning to feel romantic yearnings for him, it was true, and she thought she could detect a hint of the same returning from him, but wasn't sure if it was hormonal yearning or emotional instability that dictated those feelings. She fought herself long and hard to suppress those feelings and thoughts for the moment, as there was a show to do and little time left before the second act went up, with her and Rick leading it off.

Donald sat in his formal uniform, enjoying the pathetic routine of the Emcee as he massacred his monologue and introduced the acts with all the grace of a condemned man in the crosshairs of a firing squad. Finally, intermission offered a welcome reprieve from the cramped seating arrangements and he went into the foyer to stretch his legs and get some fresh air. He no sooner had gotten to the line for the Men's room when his communicator went off. "Hayes," he snorted gruffly.

"_Admiral, where the hell are you,_" the grating voice screeched over the line.

"I told you earlier, Senator Russo, that I was attending my daughter's ROTC graduation events. Is there something I should be aware of," he bit out. Donald never had much use for the man who was, de facto, the ruler of the United States; Russo enjoyed as much power as the President in several matters, and he oozed slime from every word he uttered, as far as the Admiral was concerned.

"_As a matter of fact, there is,_" Russo thundered back. "_Your second in command just informed me that there is a massive object entering our sky. Why wasn't I told of this earlier?_"

Donald sighed, counted to ten slowly, and said, "Begging your pardon, Senator, but that's a big-ass sky. Our resources have been focused on the Chinese and Germans, not what NASA's supposed to watch. Why are you yelling at me instead of them?"

"_Anything in that sky is national security, Hayes, and you should know that…_"

Donald slipped the cover on his communicator shut and went into the Men's room, glad to be rid of the annoying little man. Besides the past few nights, he hadn't seen his daughter for a long time, and he intended to make the most out of what little time they could share together.

_Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii-_ Lieutenant Thomas Barclay poured himself a coffee and sat down at the radar board. The shift between 1800 and 0100 had become boring of late, he reflected as he took a sip. The Chinese offensives of late were being redirected at the Asian landmass and they had taken a decidedly less threatening posture in the Pacific. On top of which, with the summer coming, the weather was improving again to distract most young servicemen with thoughts of summer frolicking and fun. He shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs as sleep threatened to overtake his mind and body.

All of a sudden, the waves around the island started picking up, getting larger with each lashing. The tables started to shake, and he saw the coffee spill out of the mug. He looked at the radar screen and saw a huge object coming out of the sky. As the whole installation rumbled, he slapped the klaxon and put in a call to HQ. "Mayday! Mayday! Red Alert, all sections," he cried out. "Admiral Hayes, please come in!"

"This is Admiral Hayes' office," Lieutenant Hoffman replied. "What's going on down there, Barclay? Chinese again?"

"No, sir; at least, I don't think it's them. There's an unidentified object plummeting through the atmosphere, causing tremors and tsunamis. It's headed towards Pearl, too, so I have no idea what's going on."

"Okay, we'll get the alert fighters scrambled and find out what's going on…" the transmission ended in a hiss of static.

"Hoffman? _Hoffman!!!!_ What's happening," Barclay screamed, feeling the shaking overtake the room he sat in. The steel support beams creaked and groaned like steel being tortured beyond its capacity, then the lights went out and he fell to the ground, finding mercy in swift unconsciousness.

_Eagle One_ took off from the deck of the _Kenesaw_ in an attempt to get a better look at the bogie that was inbound. The rest of _Eagle_ flight followed suit afterwards, a total of five aircraft to inspect the presumed-hostile target. "_Eagle One_ to base, its hard to see what that thing is," the pilot said, rocketing towards the unknown object.

"_Base to _Eagle One, _get as close to that thing as you can and scan it. Make sure the Chinese haven't bombed us,_" the control tower replied. The fighters turned words into actions as they climbed up towards the bogie. Approximately twelve klicks out, however, the fighters were suddenly pushed aside by some sort of jamming frequency, an electromagnetic curtain that threw the planes around like balsa toys. The last words of the pilots before they hit the drink were, "I don't think this thing is Chinese…._AAARGH!_"

Lisa took Rick by the hand as she led them onto the stage. He looked at her face, saw that she was as nervous as he was, their hearts were in their throats as they stood ready for the second act. _Appropriate,_ he mused. _Seems like we're waiting for the second act of our lives, as well._

"_Guaranteed to leave you jumping for joy and bringing down the house, here comes Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes doing 'Putting on the Ritz,_" the Emcee said. The curtain drew up as the lights went down, and Rick gave Lisa a peck on the cheek before the audience saw them. The music started, and they began walking stylishly around the stage, strutting like millionaires. Lisa tapped to the side, then spun back stylishly into Rick's embrace. Just as soon as they locked arms and started kicking together, the tremors shook the stage. Lisa's knees buckled and Rick tumbled over backwards as he tried to catch her. The rumbles grew louder and overshadowed the murmurs of the crowd as they watched the act unfold on the stage, and eventually, the crowd broke and ran, fearing the roof would collapse as the walls started swaying violently.

Rick took Lisa by the hand and led her to the rear of the building, towards the fire escape, which was blocked by falling debris. Thinking not at all, he led her to the auditorium doors, which were blocked by the roof. Finally, he led her to the Green Room, which was by now abandoned by its former occupants. "Where do you think you're going," Lisa asked, startled.

"Trying to find a safe place to hide," Rick said quickly.

"What do you mean? We have to get out of here," Lisa snapped.

He grabbed her shoulders and looked into her deep, shining, fear-gripped emerald eyes. "Lisa," he said, the failing lights silhouetting his dark hair and bright eyes against the specter of disaster, the ground starting to shake and buckle slightly as he talked, "We don't have time to run. We can't run in tap shoes, and we don't have time to put our normal boots on, and running barefoot through rubble is a bad idea. Plus, we don't know what's happening out there; the wind could pick up and start throwing things around, and we'll get pummeled."

"So what's your idea," she asked sarcastically. "Hide in the costume closet?"

"That's not a bad idea," he said. "No windows, no flying glass, and it's not going to tip over easily," he said.

Lisa shot him her patented _you've-gotta-be-kidding-me_ look but went into the closet with him, cuddled close for extra comfort. All of a sudden, the closet tipped over, belying his confidence in the weight of the furniture, and the rest of the lighting went out.

The communicator rang violently in his pocket as Donald Hayes rushed back to the auditorium wreck site. "Whatever it is, Senator, I'm not interested," he snapped.

"_Well, you'd better __**get**__ interested, Hayes,_" the Senator blustered. "_The committee is sending you out to investigate that impact point and capture whatever caused it._"

"Dammit, Russo," Hayes thundered, "My daughter is in this wreckage, and I'm not leaving till she is found. Tell the committee they can write a memo, I don't care."

"_Your ship will depart from Pearl and head to Macross Island immediately; your orders from the committee are clear, Hayes!_" Russo countered in tones equally resonant. "_Your ship is to head the investigation; this may be the next big offensive that __**your**__ intelligence was warning us about! Your motorcade will be at the airstrip in a half hour, as ordered._"

Donald Hayes slammed his phone shut with frustration, sighed in frustration, then dialed his adjutant. "Roy, I've got a mission for you…"

A few hours later, with the ship sailing its way to Macross Island, Donald Hayes congratulated himself with his creative paperwork. Only two days prior, he had arranged, as a show of unity with their new allies in Moscow, to transfer Captain Gloval and his crew under the command of the _Kenesaw_. Now, with his daughter missing and possibly injured, he turned command of the battle group over to his Russian counterpart, and hoped that he wouldn't get fried for it in the aftermath.

He worried about Lisa; hell, she was his only child, and she meant everything to him, especially since his wife died. He thought back to when Susan was in the hospital for the last time, with all those machines hooked up to her, fighting valiantly against the cancer that ultimately claimed her. He remembered how hard it was for Lisa to enjoy life after that, and how he, himself, had almost thrown his career away by drinking heavily off duty when Susan died. He didn't want to lose Lisa; she was too important to him.

It was close to midnight, four long hours after the theater collapsed, when he heard a lot of the rescue workers shouting. Looking up, he saw that they found they had rescued Lisa and her friend, Rick, from the rubble. He ran over to the gurneys as they were loading into the ambulance. "Hey, Lisa, it's me, dad."

"Daddy," she croaked out, bleary-eyed and not truly aware of her surroundings.

He tried smiling, attempting to comfort her while she was hurting, holding her hand and rubbing it as she was loaded up. "You know, honey, they were right about one thing," he said.

"What's that, dad?"

"You two really know how to bring down the house."

_Author's note: The rest of the situation played out like in the McKinney novelization; Roy, Gloval, and the rest of the crew have the same exploratory encounters McKinney writes of, and Donald gives his report of the findings to the Senate committee._

P.S. sorry about the delay; hope you all enjoy this. Happy belated


	11. Choices and Consequences

Chapter XI 

_**(AN: Five years have passed by the time this chapter unfolds)**_

Lisa Hayes stepped onto the bridge of her new command, the _U.S.S. Hartford_ and surveyed the view before her. The sky was blue, the waves were calm, and everything seemed the picture of normal. It was a very odd condition for an escort carrier in a combat zone, indeed. Her orders were to set sail for the _H.M.S. _Sanctuary, the hospital ship for the Eighth Mobile Division, which was five miles out from their current position, in order that they might provide escort and protection for her in her mission.

First Officer Vanessa Leeds called out, "Captain on the bridge," and saluted, bringing the crew to their feet.

"As you were," Lisa noted absently, gesturing for the clipboard Vanessa held in her hand. Glancing over the list, she noted the fuel consumption reports as well as the list of which of the three flight groups were scheduled for air patrol and recon. "Send up Wolf Squadron now, Commander Leeds. The Phantoms have been up there for a while already, let's allow them the chance to get some chow."

Vanessa chuckled. "Somehow, I don't think chicken and cream sauce will sound appealing to them, but I'll get them down."

Lisa smiled and assumed her position in the captain's chair. The mission progressed smoothly, with Lisa discussing patrol matters with a non-existent CAG, when she got a sudden spurt of intuition. She looked out to the sea, and then looked to the radar station, catching sight of Lieutenant Porter frowning. "What's the matter, lieutenant?"

"Multiple bogeys on the radar, captain. Fifty klicks out and closing fast."

"Identification?"

"Signals indicate two groups of twelve fighters. Speed and profile suggest Chinese _Sai_'s, captain," Sammie reported without a waver in her voice.

Lisa swore to herself. "Sound general quarters, all personnel to action stations."

Vanessa was already issuing the commands, sending all of _Hartford's_ pilots skyward. "Wolf lead says they've got three squadrons inbound, captain, one of fighters, one of bombers, and one of interceptors. They indicate that their target is _Sanctuary_ ma'am."

"Three instead of two? How'd that happen," Sammie asked herself incredulously.

"They've got some sort of signal-reduction paint on those bombers, had it that way for years," Vanessa replied.

"Damn, we're barely one mile short of our objective; we can't let them get that ship," Lisa said. "Tell Wolf lead to engage. We're sending the Phantoms back up to support."

"Where are the Aces N Eights?" Vanessa asked.

"Due back from patrol in ten minutes," Lieutenant Porter responded. "I've already communicated with Ace's lead, and they've changed their speed so they can regroup with us faster."

While her pilots were scrambling to protect the hospital ship, Lisa realized she needed to distract the fighters as they came in for the kill. "Weapons, target lead craft and fire the miniguns. Let's give them something to focus on other than the hospital ship."

_Hartford's_ main guns opened up, sending forth a hail of lead and photons. The salvo knocked three fighters out of the skies, but attracted the attention of the rest. _Good,_ Lisa thought.

A flight of Chinese fighters, four in all, lined up for a strafing run at the _Hartford_. Laser bolts and bullet fragments made deep impacts on the flight deck, with a few penetrating below to the hangar deck. "Weapons report half the deck guns are non-functional," Kim shouted out.

"And the launch catapults, Kim?"

"Functioning, but the fighters haven't been refueled yet."

As she spoke, a _Sai_ came in for another strafing run, targeting the bridge. Lisa stood and stared at the fighter as it roared down from the heavens like an avenging angel. The enemy pilot opened up on the flight deck again, hitting the fuel truck near the bow. The fireball knocked the entire bridge crew to the deck, killing the weapons officer, whose console exploded in his face. Lisa found herself sprawled across two computer stations, both of which had wires sparking in her face. She looked at her officer corps and saw that Vanessa was unconscious, Sammie was moaning softly as she crawled up onto her chair again, and Kim was bleeding from her forehead. Lisa forced herself back upright and spoke into the communications link.

"Fire control, this is the captain. Do you have any function whatsoever?"

A phantom voice, laced with an Irish accent, filtered across the speaker. "Bridge, the targeting computer has taken a severe hit; we're running on backups. We can't take much more of this!"

Lisa surveyed the skies, knowing Phantom squadron was out of commission, and the superior Chinese numbers was tearing the Wolves to shreds. She grumbled as she stalked to the front of the bridge. "Damn it, Aces N Eights, where the hell are you?"

All of a sudden, a piercing "_Hooooo-rah,"_ sounded across the intercom.

"_Ace Five, please refrain from self-humiliation on the intercom,"_ came Ace Lead's amused voice.

Ace Five's response was a power dive, starting around 5000 feet and swooping in at the flight deck at the Chinese fighter that had started hovering over the catapults. "_You're mine now, sucker,"_ Alan thought as he lined up the enemy fighter and stitched his afterburners with 50mm cannonfire.

Elsewhere, Ace Lead and Ace Two were playing tag with some of the Chinese bombers, which had finally arrived over the target zone. The bombers, which US pilots had christened as water buffaloes during the period before the war, were ugly and slow, but what they lacked in speed they more than made up for with armor; it'd typically take a single US fighter three passes to down one, and that was without contending with the _Throwing Star_-class escort/interceptors that flew with them. Rick and Max each lined up for a run at the lead bomber in the formation, opening fire at maximum range, and targeting the formation with a volley of missiles.

Lisa's smile began to creep back across the landscape known as her mouth, and eventually filled her entire face as the Aces downed one bomber after another. Unfortunately, the hospital ship had taken a few errant hits in the process and had begun listing to port. Kim looked out and saw a _Throwing Star_ beginning its suicide ram at the _Sanctuary_, and she screamed in horror. Lisa saw what her subordinate had seen, rushed to the auxiliary weapons console, and fired the short range missile battery, detonating the frail, agile fighter's fuel reserves in midair.

Wreckage flew past the bridge windows, shooting flames along the sides of the command pylon. The acrid smell of smoke filled the command area, making the bridge crew choke and cry through the haze and particulate matter that flew into their eyes and lungs. Lisa strained her vision to see the remnants of Wolf Squadron being obliterated by the invading _Sai_ fighters. _Rick, be careful_, her heart cried out, as she stiffened her spine and showed a courageous face to her officers. "Lieutenant Young, how many fighters are left?"

Kim ran her fingers over what little instrumentation was left. "From what I can see, captain, two more squadrons of fighters and one of bombers are inbound in five, four, three, two…" Her voice trailed off as the explosions rocked the ship from stem to stern. "I think that means they're here, captain."

Lisa stared into the sky and saw twenty-four enemy fighters making a beeline for her command. She knew that any defense of her ship was forlorn, but she could not bring herself to give an order to surrender; no Hayes had ever surrendered in battle.

High above the _Hartford_, Lieutenant Rick Hunter led his pilots in a ferocious dogfight against superior Chinese numbers. He rolled out to port, narrowly avoiding a laser cannon's worth of body repair, and continued his corkscrew toward the _Throwing-Star_ that had begun a suicide ram against _Sanctuary_. Rick put all discretionary energy into his speed, and loosed a laser burst at extreme range. He cursed, realizing that he'd never catch it in time. "Ace leader to _Sanctuary_. Abandon ship; you're about to be rammed!"

His words never reached them, and Rick cringed mentally as he saw the hospital ship's bow take a huge hit, barely staying afloat. He knew that the patients inside were goners, but he couldn't fathom the totality of the savage nature of his enemy that could drive them to commit such unspeakable horrors.

Ben, who had formed up on his eight, lined up another interceptor to become one with the atmosphere. He smiled the savage smile of the big game hunter that had finally captured his killer prey and loosed his savage autocannons at the fleeing enemy fighter. He scored twin hits, searing holes deep in the enemy fuselage and turning it into a mixture of brilliant blacks and oranges and reds that seemed more at home on a canvas than a battlefield.

"_Attention all fighters,_" came Kim's voice over the radio, "_Sanctuary is dead. Repeat, Sanctuary is dead. New orders; protect this ship as we make for an escape heading. Repeat, cease protecting Sanctuary and cover our escape route._"

Rodney signaled, "Leader, we've got trouble."

"That's news, Nine? Go ahead."

"Lead, I've spotted a _Yak_-class light carrier inbound. Request instructions."

Rick grimaced. A _Yak_ carrier meant another four squadrons of fighters to them use that the Aces would have to protect the _Hartford _from. Ben said, "Uh, leader, I don't like the way this is shaping up."

"Cut the chatter, Ace Three, I'm not in the mood," Rick snapped. "We may not like what the situation is, but we have to face it. Now, Aces, call off your numbers and regroup. We got a mission to perform."

He heard the squadron call signs and grimaced. He already had lost fifty percent of his squad, and the fight wasn't over yet by a long shot. The enemy fighters made a dash for their formation, and began firing at long range. "Okay, Aces. Three squads of _Throwing Stars_ inbound, let's make some noise."

Alan completed a complicated aerial turn, attempting to shake his pursuer, but received twin laser cannons to his engines. "Boss, I'm hit."

"Me, too," Rodney said. "Fusion drive overloading. Can't hold it together."

Rick's stomach did flip-flops. "Hold it together, Alan. Rodney, reduce your speed and altitude, try to land on the _Hartford_."

Rodney angled his fighter upside down. "Sorry, Lead, no can do," he said. "Watch your six for me, and make sure my letter gets delivered."

Alan swallowed a lump in his throat. "Mine, too, Lead. I've got to deliver a birthday present. Won't be long. Take care of the shop, will you?"

Rodney keeled over and aimed his fighter at the conning tower of the _Yak_-class carrier, hitting the burners and throttling to full speed. Alan aimed his at the sky, doing the same, and firing all of his weapons as he aimed himself at the gathering cloud of enemy craft. Within moments, twin stars lit up the horizon, one from the sea and one from the air, both fueled by humans who believed in their teams more than they could express.

Rick pounded his fist on the dashboard, then looked at the _Hartford_ for a final time, as he saw the ship start billowing smoke and fire, on its course towards oblivion. "Bridge, this is Ace lead, what is your status, over?"

He stared in horror as the _Hartford_ continued to list to starboard as it surged toward the shore, fire gutting every deck and hole.

"Repeat, this is Lieutenant Hunter, requesting anyone on the _Hartford_ to reply to my signal."

There was no reply from the bridge. "Boss, I think they're all dead," Max said.

"There's nothing left to do, Lieutenant," Ben said.

Rick squared his shoulders and ordered, "The sky is clear of enemies, and we have to rejoin our forces. Find a friendly LZ and land."

Three fighters formed a Delta formation and flew off into the burning sky.

Donald Hayes looked backwards over his shoulder as he walked casually down the street. The summer sun bore down on the heads of passers-by, but he wasn't noticing how humid the air was, nor was he seeing the sweat stains on the shirts of other pedestrians.

He was looking for his pursuers, about a half block behind him.

And they were not, from the looks of it, trying to find him so they could wish him a pleasant day.

Donald smiled to himself and whistled an old Irish dancing tune softly, much to the puzzlement of the passers-by. He bought an iced coffee from a nearby street vendor, then dropped a wadded up plastic bag into the nearby trash receptacle and walked off to hail a cab. He grinned as he rode towards his office, knowing that the team that was trailing him was going to go nuts examining that trash.

Later that night, he sat awake in his den, cushioned by an old leather armchair and surrounded by books in shelves that were as solid and resolute as the Hayes family heritage, a long stout blue line of veterans and heroes, ones that he hoped he had made proud of him by their watching his actions from afar. He leaned on his desk as he leafed through the latest briefing from the UEG Budget Minister, looking for anything that could hint to him what was going on.

The doorbell rang, and, as his doorman let his nocturnal guest into the house, Donald pressed the play button on his tape deck next to the lamp light, then slowly stood up, crossed the floor to the leather-lined door, and, after waiting for the familiar knock, opened it up to find Captain Henry Gloval standing on the other side. He wordlessly shook the older man's hand, and then pointed casually towards the high-backed chair opposite his desk. Once the door closed tightly behind them both, Donald frowned reflectively.

"I never thought it'd wind up like this, Henry," he said in frustration.

"You can't expect humanity to change so suddenly in only five years, my friend," Henry rejoined with grim humor. "There is an old Russian saying that comes to mind. " 'The dictatorship is gone, bring on the dictatorship!'"

Donald chuckled bitterly, "Never knew your family could predict the future, Henry, but there's a lot of truth in that statement."

"I'm sure we could discuss generalities until the sun rises, Donald, but I'm sure you didn't invite me over at 0130 to make banal jokes," Henry observed.

"You're right, Henry," Hayes nodded. "I've asked you over to talk about your upcoming mission, and your new command."

"Ah, yes, I believe your adjutant, Lieutenant Commander Fokker termed it Operation Genesis. Do you have any misgivings about it," he asked.

"About the crew and its captain, I have none," Hayes said, wearily. "It's the men upstairs that I'm concerned about."

Henry leaned forward in his chair, absently reaching for his pipe. Donald saw that, smiled, and said, "Light up, dear friend, I would not force you to do without the comforts of rank while we confer."

Gloval lit his pipe, took a few puffs, and asked, reflectively, "You think there's going to be trouble on this voyage, don't you?"

"I know there will be, I can feel it in my bones."

"My friend, you can feel almost everything in your bones these days."

"So how do I explain the spooks who keep following me around lately," Donald asked, agitated.

Henry's jaw dropped, sending his pipe into his right hand, spilling an ash or two. "You cannot be serious. They monitor you?"

Hayes raised his hand in a halting gesture. "It's quite alright now; I've got this room jammed against bugging devices. And yes, I'm serious. After what you and I have found out about the High Command, I'm surprised you're not being tailed, yourself."

"The better for our enemies to decapitate us with," Henry mused.

"I have no freedom to be myself, Henry; hell, they've even started tailing my daughter."

Gloval's eyes shot up. "They've got Lisa under surveillance?"

The admiral punched a wall in frustration. "Yes, they do; she didn't think anything of it until they got too close once and rear-ended her. Then she noticed the appearance of the driver, the car, and the plates."

The older man placed his hand comfortingly on Donald's right shoulder. "My friend, I don't think they intended to harm her."

"They certainly scared her, Henry, that's too much for me."

Henry looked at the mantle reflectively, thinking of a way to cut the surveillance that Donald was under. Then he looked out of the window at the blackness beyond, what would ordinarily be an excellent view of the cliffs and the lake beneath them, knowing what he had to say next.

"Donald," he said, "we've known this faction within the UEG has been building for years. They're close to taking over the government. They will succeed, even if we fight them."

"You're right," Hayes said. "If we fight them, we're inviting arrest and conviction, and that will undo the years we've spent gathering our evidence."

"They figure that this mission," Gloval mused, "of leading the SDF-1 into space will keep me under control, unable to cause trouble. The Soviets used the same technique, only they sent the offending confidante to Siberia as a 'promotion'."

"That leaves me, then, Henry," Donald fussed. "What should we do?"  
"We need to establish a secure line of communications that does not require face to face contact," Gloval said. "I think I remember one of Lisa's cadre mates is a computer wiz, Sterling, I think his name is?"

"Sterling," Hayes confirmed.

"Have him create the link," Henry said.

"That means involving them in this confederacy, Henry. We can't just involve Sterling and leave the rest out. That wouldn't be fair, either to him or them."

"That's okay, Donald. After all, they'll be under my command out there, right? And if the high command deems them as expendable as I am, they'll be in a good place to act, if needed."

"True," Hayes conceded. "Well, I guess we have no choice. I'll have them come over for dinner tomorrow night."

Henry snorted. "That should prove interesting."

_**AN:**_ It's Cicero, again. KT had some college trifles to deal with (some nonsense about classes and homework and such) and so I did this chapter as well. Trust me, it's only going to get more intense from here on out.


	12. Recalled to life

Chapter XII

The lights in the auditorium rose sharply, causing the cadets to blink. Commandant Jameson turned the projector off and strode to the podium. "Cadets Hayes and Hunter, front and center," he barked.

Rick and Lisa both stood up and marched to the front of the floor, standing at attention.

"About face, cadets, and look into the eyes of your teams."

They obeyed, and stared directly into the faces of their crews, all of them sharing the same soot, grime, and sweat that their leaders wore. The commandant's booming voice echoed from behind them. "Look deep into their eyes, and tell me if you think you have succeeded or failed this little simulation."

Lisa looked glumly out towards where her bridge crew was, sore, tied, and grimacing, but with a sense of pride that radiated outward like an unspoken and unshakable vote of confidence. Rick, likewise, looked at his pilots and saw them carefully shifting in their seats, trying to find a comfortable spot where their muscles wouldn't hurt them. They all smiled at him, and he knew they supported him fully.

Executing a perfect about-face, they saluted the commandant and said, simultaneously, "We passed, sir."

Jameson looked at them both and scowled. "How can you say you passed? Lieutenant Hayes, the ship under your command was lost in action, killing all hands, and Lieutenant Hunter, only three men from your squadron of 12 survived. High casualty rate, low mission success rate, and you consider that a success?"

Lisa spoke first. "If success was a possibility, sir, you would not have programmed that simulator to be so relentless and unforgiving."

Rick added, "I thought this scenario was supposed to test out creativity in the face of overwhelming odds, so how can it be a failure to explore creative tactics?"

The commandant shook his head and said, "I've been running this simulation for the United States Navy for over ten years, and you are the first cadet class to stand up to me and point that out. I'm frankly amazed. Maybe you have the courage to be the leaders of tomorrow, after your graduation from this Robotech Academy." He stepped away from the podium, snapped a salute to the cadets and said, "You passed. Class dismissed."

Rick and Lisa whooped with glee, and their squads formed circles around them on their way out of the auditorium. "Nice to be back in the land of the living, isn't it, guys," Rick asked the two ghosts next to him.

Alan said, "Now I can say, 'death, been there, done that.'"

Rodney smirked and reserved his remarks, scanning the crowd for Sammie. She came running over to him like a bolt out of the blue, almost knocking him over in the process. "I'm glad that's over," she said, her voice almost muffled by his chest.

He stroked her hair gently and said, softly, "Sammie, that wasn't the easiest thing in the world for me, either, but it's over, we all graduated the simulator, and the final graduation is the day after tomorrow. Aren't you excited?"

Rick turned away from the proceedings and pretended to gag at his friends' expense. Lisa saw his expression and punched him lightly in the arm as she checked her voice mail. Her eyes opened in pleasant surprise when she heard her father's voice. "_Lisa, it's dad. I was wondering if you and your friends were available to come over for dinner tonight. Call me back. Love you."_

"Guys, we have a dinner invite tonight," Lisa announced to the group. "Anyone want to come to my dad's house for real food instead of what the base offers?"

They all shouted enthusiastically and she smiled, dialing the number she knew so well. "Hello, dad? Yeah, it's me. Just calling to let you know you can set a few extra place settings for dinner tonight. Yeah, the whole brood will be there. Count on it, love ya, dad. Bye."

Rick looked at Lisa as she hung up. "Get dressed all nice, guys," she drawled. "We've got a 6pm reservation."

Rick clapped his hands. "Okay, dudes, we've got less than two hours to get all purtied up, and we only got one shower in the apartment. Unless y'all wanna conserve water," he winked at Lisa, who stuck her tongue out at him, "we've got to make time. So break ranks and giddyap!"

Lisa made similar hand gestures to the ladies, and they all returned to their different apartments, gearing up for the evening to come.

********

The limo pulled up to the Hayes family's ancestral hall, where five generations and more of Lisa's ancestors had lived, eaten, grown old, and died. The White Mountains were pretty in the summertime, with its open air vistas and endless views.

Donald Hayes looked up from his desk and into the faces of six young cadets. He smiled and rose from his chair, glad that he would have additional company this evening. "Hey, guys," he greeted them. "How was the simulator this afternoon?"

Muffled affirmations of success greeted his ears. "Excellent. Dinner will be served shortly," he said. "Go, make yourselves at home. Rick, may I talk to you for a few moments?"

The rest of the crew excused themselves, as Admiral Hayes pushed a button. The heavy leather door opened up, and Captain Gloval strode through, clearly expecting the young officer before him. Donald smiled tightly by way of introduction, and Rick gulped. He wasn't sure this was a good thing.

"Relax, Rick," Henry began. "We have a few simple questions for you. I understand that you have a nice, tight-knit team here."

"Yes, sir, we've been flying together for five years; we're family," Rick replied.

"If you were required to, by virtue of your rank, could you keep something a sworn secret from your group," Admiral Hayes asked.

Rick thought for a moment. "I suppose so, sir, why do you ask?"

"We'll get to that in a moment," Henry said. "If you received an order from a superior officer, one that was odious and violated your sense of common decency and was contrary to the rules of conduct and good discipline, what would you do?"

Rick frowned. "Adhering to the chain of command is what keeps order and separates the professional from the amateur. That being said, orders are only acceptable if there is moral authority behind them to back it up. I did not join the service to become a criminal, sir."

"What I'm about to ask of you violates the chain of command and risks the career and freedom of everyone in this residence right now, Lieutenant," Hayes said. "If that is unacceptable or uncomfortable to you, then you may leave now without recrimination, but sworn to complete secrecy about what I had just asked of you."

Rick gulped again. The fun mood of the evening had just evaporated, and a sinking weight of responsibility filled his stomach. He hesitated a moment as he realized the enormity of the situation. "I'm not a quitter, Admiral. If you need me to do something, ask away, and I shall do my utmost to fulfill it."

Donald grinned. "That's the old Pop Hunter spirit, there, Rick," he said. "Okay. The SDF-1 is being given clearance to launch in less than a month, that is information you know.

"What you don't know is that my superiors in the UEG feel that this is a pure waste of time, a suicide mission, if you will. They've invested the time and money into this project, just enough, to make it work, but they do not intend it to succeed," Donald Hayes said.

Rick rose to his feet. "You mean, all this training, all this effort, is just so we can lead our friends off to die? What am I supposed to do, _Admiral_, let this little happy fact not get in my way and go about normally?"

"In fact, _Lieutenant_, that is what I'm asking you to do," Donald said, his cheeks flushing with redness. "However, before we both lose our cool, let me explain something. I am not asking you to lead these fine men and women into fire and death needlessly. What I am asking you to do is to do your best to thwart the intentions of the high command."

Rick swallowed visibly and nodded. "Only a fool thinks that the house odds are in his favor when he rolls the dice," he said. "What do you need me to do?"

********

The young officers filed into the grand dining room, and stood patiently behind their chairs, and Lisa smiled at each of her friends in turn, as she wondered what was keeping Rick and her dad. Finally, the two men exited the study and rejoined the dinner party, but with another guest, Captain Henry Gloval. _Where did he pop out from,_ Lisa pondered.

Donald made a gesture to one and all to sit, and when they did, the food began to come out of the kitchen and onto the dining table. First, the bread and then the salads. Donald looked up at his daughter, smiled, and lifted his water glass, saying, "Here's to the first graduating class of a new dawn. May you all succeed beyond our dreams."

The entourage chanted, "Here, here," at the conclusion of his toast.

The doorman entered the dining room and whispered into Admiral Hayes' ear. "Please excuse me, I'll be right back. Belmont, please put another setting at the table"

Lisa looked at Rick, her eyes full of inquiry, as her father left the table. Obviously, Rick noted, this was not his normal dinnertime behavior.

Donald Hayes returned to the dinner table and asked, "Rick, would you mind stepping out into the hall with me for a moment?"

Rick wiped his mouth with the white linen napkin and stood up from his chair, following the Admiral into the hallway. "Yes, Admiral," Rick asked, unable to hide his curiosity. He saw a young, lithe, raven-haired Asian girl of approximately the same age as himself. He looked into her eyes and saw a flicker of familiarity.

"It's okay, honey," the admiral was saying to her. "Come on in."

Rick offered the young woman his hand, and she shook it politely, if a little hesitantly. "My name is Rick, it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss…?"

She worked her jaw a bit, uncertain how to articulate what she wanted. She looked to Donald with uncertainty and a little fear in her eyes.

The admiral took the hint. "Rick, I know this isn't exactly the best timing in the world, but I just found out where our visitor here was a few hours ago…"

Rick's eyes widened, wondering where he was going with this.

"Her name is Lynn MinMei, and she is your sister."

***********

Rick worked his jaw a few times, his mind stunned by this fresh news. "What…? How…?"

"Your father and I were close friends in the service, Rick. We went to Hong Kong for leave once, and got drunk as heck, as lots of servicemen on leave tend to do. Well, this one occasion was in a karaoke bar, and he grabbed a microphone and started serenading one of the barmaids." Rick's cheeks flushed at the memory of his own singing scene a few years prior. Then he felt another surprise reaction.

"Was this before or after he married my mother," Rick asked hesitantly.

Donald's eyes were hooded and he looked away from Rick.

"So, you're telling me that my father had an affair with some lowlife bar girl and I have a bastard sibling," Rick yelled.

"It wasn't like that, Rick. It wasn't like your father was a cold hearted bastard or didn't love your mother; guys get lonely when they're away from home. He told me afterwards that he regretted it, but he had felt alive for the first time in a long time, after flying endless missions and dropping countless bombs. He felt like a human for the first time since he left home."

Rick wasn't buying it. "So it's okay for him to cheat on my mom, to chest on me, and bring another life into this world when he wasn't going to have anything to do with it?"

Without waiting for the older man's response, and afraid that the tears building in his eyes were going to explode forth at any moment, Rick raced out of the house.

Lisa heard the commotion from the dinner table, wiped her mouth, and excused herself. With a solemn look at her father, and concern for Rick foremost in her mind, she raced after him.

AN: Sorry for the delay in updating. I had a huge writer's tree growing in my mind (a more advanced case of writer's block, that is.) So here we go again, and I hope I can update a little more frequently now.


	13. A lot to digest

Chapter XIII

Rick found the shelter of a large oak on the north forty of Lisa's family estate, running his legs and lungs into the ground in an effort to drown out rational thought. Inside the space of two hours, his entire universe had been spun around and slam dunked on its head. The only thing that vaguely made sense to him, as he looked at his surroundings, was the large heart carved into the tree, with the initials L.H. in it, and the space under those letters were left blank. _Trust Lisa to be an over-achiever even then_, he thought to himself, chuckling. That simple sign and action cleared his head of tears and sadness, but the confusion refused to leave.

First, he was told that his government, the service he had devoted himself to, and his career were all a sham, that he and his squadron, along with the crew he was serving alongside, were selected for a suicide mission. He was both warmed and hurt that Admiral Hayes and Captain Gloval had broken that particular bit of news. And then, as he had started to digest that information, he was slapped sideways when he learned his father, the most moral man he had ever known, had fathered a child out of wedlock, and that he, Rick, had a new found sister.  
Rick shook his head again, trying to focus and deal with the issues one at a time. He thought about his friends, his pilots, and his squadron. Roy was going to be the CAG (Commander, Air Group) on board the SDF-1 as well as the commander of Skull Squadron. He was a squadron leader, and a damn fine pilot. Rick felt honored that he was even going to be commissioned as a leader while the other squadrons were headed up by veterans from the Global Civil War, ones with ten years flying time on him. He also took great pride in the fact that his squadron was a tight-knit group, a second family that many of them lacked elsewhere, and he hated keeping secrets from them, even to further the resistance movement within the government. The fact that both officers gave him no details about it showed how deeply enmeshed in the movement they were, he noted to himself. But the question really was twofold; first, what was the purpose of turning the ship and its crew into a suicide mission, and secondly, how could he keep this vital information a total secret from those men and women he had to trust with his life?  
Pop's voice came to his mind, unbidden. You must trust these men, Rick.  
He chuckled grimly to himself. First he sees a living ghost of his father, now he's hearing his father's voice.  
"_No, Rick_," the voice said, "_this isn't a hallucination_."  
Rick looked to his left and saw a blue light shape itself into his father, Mitchell "Pops" Hunter, looking like his service photos, dark hair, shades, flight suit and all.  
"_Donald and I go far, far back, Rick, so I know that when he says something, it's on good authority," the ghost of his father explained. "We were roomies in boot, and then he became the squad leader while we were trainees. Then when were in 'Nam, we were both flight leaders on a massive raid over Hanoi. We lost a lot of good men on that mission, but the one that hurt the most was Russ, our squad's leading ace and a fair hand with the ladies. Russ was flying point in the formation, and got pounced as he tried to take out a weapons convoy near Xuan La; I tried coming up behind them to save him, but I was a few seconds too slow_."  
The apparition hung his head, and a tear slid from under his shades. "_The final twist in the matter is that he and I had gotten into a fight in Hong Kong, over a barmaid we were both sweet on, a gal named Tammy, and he had threatened to frag me if I tried anything funny with her. The night before we left for our mission, she had come to us and said she was pregnant. I assumed it was his, and he assumed it was mine. We came to blows, and Don had to separate us. The base commander wanted Russ and I thrown in the brig, but there wasn't time for us to be locked up, because we needed every man in his plane when the balloon went up. Don still wanted my hide for acting like an ass, and he told me as much when he took me back to my billet that night. He still felt that I screwed up after I had returned to base, both with Tammy and with how I handled Russ, plus his death in combat, and never let me forget it afterward._"  
The apparition choked back a sob, and Rick suddenly felt the urge to try to comfort it, even though he knew that the vision of Pops was not tangible. "_I...I told your mother all about it when I returned home, Rick. She was heartbroken that I strayed, but accepted in her heart that I was at least honest enough to tell her about it_" The ghost seemed to panic and grow hysterical, urging, "_I never stopped trying to repent for my actions, Rick. I never strayed after I returned home; I can promise you that_."  
"So why did you stray overseas, Pops," Rick felt confident enough to ask after a few silent moments.  
"_Rick, when you're surrounded by death and dying for as long as we all were over there, you need a way to feel alive, even for a few moments, and remind yourself that you're still human, still functioning. By that point, I wasn't even sure I was still decent enough to return home; I felt like I was too much of a killer to ever feel or become normal again. I-I-I worked double and triple shifts at the factory, saving my money and sending what I could to Tammy to help with her daughter after I had taken care of your mother and you_."  
He heard a rustle in the trees nearby, wiped his hands over his face in a rough manner, and then ran a hand through the thick mop of jet black hair. 'Pops' grew frantic a moment, then said, "_Rick, what Donald told you is true. Trust him; he is a good friend to have in your corner when the chips are down. Trust your squadmates, your CO, and Donald. If you do that, you'll be fine_." Then as fast as he'd come, 'Pops' vanished from view.  
Lisa's face peeked through the leaves of a nearby bush, worry written plainly in the darkened pools of her eyes, and a wrinkle of concern crossing her brow. "Rick, are you okay?"  
Rick tried to assume an air of nonchalance. "I'm fine, hon. Just in a bit of shock, but I'm doing well."  
"I think you handled it better than I would have," she conceded after a moment's reflection. "How are you taking it?"  
"Ever take a double-fisted punch to the solar plexus in hand to hand combat classes?"  
"I thought as much. Your face gave me the impression that you were about to lose your lunch, and I know the food here isn't that bad," she joked.  
"Between the news about a new-found sibling and the chat your dad and Captain Gloval gave me, I feel all out of sorts."  
"Yeah, what was that all about," she asked, all serious.  
"Um, I was sworn to secrecy, Lisa," Rick replied, haltingly.  
"I know my dad swore you to secrecy, as did Captain Gloval. But come on, I know the government has followed me at least once, and they've got a file on you, as well as on everyone in that house!"  
Rick stood up, swallowed his pride and sighed. "Remember your military history class, Lisa?"  
She nodded as she joined him on his feet, and he continued, "Remember Thermopylae and the Alamo? They were classic suicide missions, right?" At her nod, he explained. "The high command and the ruling junta don't believe that we can succeed in our mission, and they're using us as a distraction to grab all the power they can get on Earth."  
Lisa's jaw hit the deck. "So why are they following me around, and you, and the rest of the group?"  
Rick took her by the hand and started walking idly through the light woods. "Your father and the captain are the two leading opponents to the power grab; resistance leaders, if you will. Basically, we're the weak links, and under suspicion ourselves. And they figure that, by shipping us off on the SDF-1, they're getting rid of some thorns in their sides, not the least of whom is the captain."  
The look on Lisa's face was like the crest of a missile's exploding wave. "So we're supposed to be pawns?"  
"No, Lisa. According to your dad, the junta is putting other agents on board to monitor us, and make sure we don't cause trouble for them. So we have orders from Captain Gloval and your father to thwart them, find the evidence we need to shut down their plot, and remove their allies on the ship. We know what they want to do, we just lack proof. I need you to keep this a secret from the squad. Claudia and Roy have both been read in to this, and now, you and me as well. But they can only be brought in on a need-to-know basis."  
Lisa was lost in thought for a few moments as they made their way through the gorgeous foliage.  
"This is heady stuff, Rick. You just floored me completely; although I guess I should have seen this coming. I know my dad's been using a scrambler when he uses his phone, for starters."  
Rick brought his forefinger to his lips. "Not another word of this, Lisa...the woods have ears."  
She nodded by way of reply, leading him around the trunk of the tree back towards her youthful scrawl. "About that other thing, Rick...your newly discovered sister...?"  
He smiled wistfully. "I'm better now; had a long talk with an old friend. Oh, and Lisa," he asked.

"Yes, Rick?"

He took out his combat knife and carved a large R.H. under her initials in the heart. "Now I think that image is complete, don't you?"

They both grinned on their way back to the house.


	14. Rebooted

Chapter XIV

Three months earlier, in Macross City

The sky was filled with water, heavy and cold, and it began its relentless descent upon the city just as the sun began to set. Ominous, heavy clouds replaced the light, cheerful ones of the daytime and the odd contrast between the darkness and the few rays shining from the resentful sun that refused to set easily gave a surreal look to Macross City, and especially, the Navy Yard.

Around 6pm, Karl Riber cursed the wind after it blew his hood off in the soaking rain. He had just finished yet another 12 hour shift in the Navy Yard, and was not in the mood for Mother Nature's pranks that night. An aggressively nondescript black SUV pulled up next to him and the rear window rolled down, revealing a face obscured by shadow and a waft of cigar smoke.

"Need a ride, Mister Riber," a raspy voice, a sound much like one makes when gargling marbles, emanated from the darkness.

"How do you know who I am," he asked the voice. "I have no friends around here…"

"I know ALL about you, Karl," the voice said. "Now get inside, or do you enjoy the rain soaking through your worn-out boots and torn socks?"

Karl grimaced, feeling the cold water flood his feet, and could not deny the wisdom of the man's statement; on a good night, it was a half hour walk home. On a night like tonight, with the rain and the wind, it could make it an hour, at least, and with cold rain numbing his toes and feet…it wasn't a pleasant thought. He entered the passenger seat to the SUV with very little extra encouragement. As he clicked his seat belt in place, he saw a sack come down over his eyes, and felt the muzzle of a pistol clap to the back of his head. "What the…?"

"I've been instructed to ensure compliance," the gargling voice replied.

"With what," Karl asked.

"You will find out, soon enough," his captor said. "Silence!"

Karl usually had a good sense of direction, but he couldn't keep track of the turns that the vehicle took in the city streets. After a short eternity, they stopped, and he was led out of the SUV. Based on temperature and the sounds he was hearing from their footfalls, he guessed they were in a warehouse. _How cliché can you get_ he wondered.

He felt the gun jam into the back of his ribs, and started walking forward until he felt a muzzle in his forehead. A chair was put behind him with enough force to make his knees buckle, and he sat hard, with force enough to leave him sore and breathing hard. As his hands were restrained behind the chair, a female voice rang out of the darkness. "Well, well, look what the garbage man found."

"Anna?"

The sack was removed, roughly, from his face, letting the garish, harsh light from the overhead fixtures flood his vision. The voice sounded like her, but the figure, the face, the hair didn't. A red-haired woman in a black, military-style uniform crouched before him, looking into his eyes with a mixture of scorn and amusement. The eyes gave her away, even after all these years. "I must say I'm impressed, I'd have thought you would have forgotten me. You never kept in touch after the Academy."

Karl could barely keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "I tried, but you never left your forwarding address."

The flat back of her hand made a loud SMACK in the cavernous warehouse as it contacted Karl's cheek at a high rate of speed. He winced and bit back a sharp curse as the pain filtered across his face.

"And here I was, thinking I could ask you to finally do the right thing and be a stand-up guy for once," she snarled, crimson flushing her cheeks.

"Says the woman who tried to frame me for rape," he sneered. "Thanks to you, I've spent the past few years in _glorious_ toil in the labor battalions instead of aggressively pursuing my career in the Fleet. Then, once my sentence was over, I had to sign on again with the construction company to stay solvent and out of poverty. And you expect me to be gracious when your hired help abducts me and you start slapping my face?"

"I'm offering you the chance for revenge, Karl," she retorted. "After what Hayes and Hunter and their gangs put us through, I'd have thought you would want a chance to take some."

"How did you manage to get out of your sentence," he asked. "The hearing sentenced you to Antarctica's research station for ten years."

"My family has friends in high places, Karl. Several of whom owe my father favors. Many favors, in fact," she smiled. "And in return for my staying out of Antarctica, I accepted a new assignment, one that will ensure the safety of everyone on Earth. And, as an added bonus, I can recruit others who want to serve their planet, giving them another chance at life. Think of us as a kind of French Foreign Legion. Didn't you want to be a pilot, Karl?"

Hesitantly, he nodded, hardly aware of what was real or unreal at that point, and barely hoping his life's grandest dream would come true.

"We can give you your life back; make you that pilot you wanted to be. We only ask you for your service, your loyalty, and your identity."

"What?"

The brick-haired woman pointed to her name badge. It read, "Colonel Sonya McGivers".

"You know the truth of who I am, and the men in this room do, too. No one else in the organization, besides my immediate boss, knows the truth. So it shall be with you, if you join. But on the plus side, everything Karl Riber was, disgraced cadet, accused rapist, and impoverished laborer, would be gone in an instant. What say you," she asked with a smile and a wink.

Karl blew out an unsteady breath. "What will I tell my family?"

"The world will think you died in a shipbuilding accident; the Navy's already "lost" a dozen workers on this project; what would one more mean to them?"

His eyes seemed focused on nothing and everything all at once, thinking of how easy it could be…a life, freedom, and the opportunity to exact revenge. He only had to sacrifice himself to regain himself; a rebirth, if you will. Barely able to look her in the eye, the one who had helped precipitate his fall from grace, the one who had helped ruin his career, and yet, perhaps, the one who could help him achieve salvation, he said, "I'm in."

Present time – Aircraft en route to Macross Island

0600 – Alan was jolted awake by a bit of turbulence as the plane he and his friends were on flew towards Macross Island and their new assignments. If this had been a typical military flight, they would have boarded a loud (and very uncomfortable) C-130 transport plane, but since the plane was carrying Captain Gloval to his new command; and Admiral Hayes was going to the island to christen the SDF-1, the Admiral's personal staff was there as well. Lisa and Sammie headed up front of the cabin; Sammie wanted to check out the navigation system firsthand, and Lisa needed to talk to her father.

"Hey, dude," Rodney whispered to him. "Got a minute? I need some advice."

Alan stood up, stretched out, and walked the few aisles behind him, sitting down next to his wingman and long-time roommate. He saw anxiety in his eyes for the first time since their first dogfight. "What's up, Man? You look like lunch didn't agree with you."

"I'm trying to find the right time, and the right words, for something, bro; can you help me out?"

"Which way did you come in," Alan wisecracked.

"Not funny, dude. I wanna ask Sammie to marry me," Rodney replied.

"When the hell did you get the ring?"

"My old man sent it to me; it was his mother's when she was engaged," Rodney replied.

Alan grabbed his friend by the shoulders roughly and spun him so he could face him directly. "Dude, trust me. We graduate tomorrow, and our new assignment takes off three days after that. We're already overwhelmed emotionally here; don't do this to her now, or to yourself. It's an emotional high we're all riding; don't do anything rash."

Rodney swallowed his pride and ego for a second, and then slowly nodded. "You're right, dude. Thanks; you've been looking out for me for years; I knew you'd help me make the right decision now."

The two friends smiled warmly at each other as Alan returned to his seat; Lisa and Sammie walked back into the passenger compartment at that time, and Sammie winked at Rodney as she returned, walking over to his seat and curling up next to him. Alan glanced slyly over at Vanessa, his own thoughts in turmoil; Rodney's question had prompted him to evaluate what he wanted for the future. She interpreted his gaze as an invitation and put her head on his shoulder and her hand in his lap. He drew her close to him, and settled in for the remainder of the long flight.

AN: Knights_Templar is finally back! He will have at least the next chapter, as we try to get things rolling again.


	15. Graduation Day

Chapter XV

The big day had finally arrived, but to Rick it seemed rather hollow. For the umpteenth time he looked at himself in the mirror and fidgeted with his uniform, and for almost as many times he wished that Lisa was there and that he could just talk to her. Not that his friends didn't help, but they had no idea, and sadly that was where he had to keep them. 'No,' he thought as he looked at himself, 'these are my closest friends and if they are going to be asked to be mere cannon fodder, they have a right to know.' He sighed at the thought, he knew if he told them that some of them would take it rather badly, well, only one of them would have a hard time keeping his mouth shut. Rodney was just too hotheaded sometimes, which made him the polar opposite of Max and Alan who always had a measured disposition. It made Rodney useful, but also made him a liability too when it came to situations that required discretion. He had your back, but in the process he was liable to also start the fight that would make you get involved.

"Damn it, I'm done with this stupid thing," he muttered giving up on his uniform; he was beyond the point now where he cared about what he looked like. All he could keep thinking about was the events of the last few days. They had been life changing, and had come at him fast and furious, like blows in a fight leaving him with little time to catch his breath before he had the most important day of his life before him. The day that had been the culmination of years and years of dedicated and hard work, yet now he was the most confused he had been since Pop had died.

Rick closed his eyes and looked out the window of his room, hearing his friends out in the common area, all excitedly talking and waiting. Graduation was in an hour, and he knew they were most likely waiting for him. It was a beautiful day and he should be happy, happy with all that he had accomplished. Being assigned to the most cutting edge warship ever created by man. Or well, retrofitted by man, being a squadron leader where many other pilots with years of prior experience were ahead of him, and lucky enough that most of the men following him into combat would be dear friends who he knew would obey, but were also highly capable and would always be watching one another.

And now he had a sister, another member of his family, where he had gotten so used to the idea of having no one other than his mother in his life let him almost as nervous as the idea of being sent off to be killed in a blaze of glory. 'That is actually easier to accept, at least then if I let anyone down, or fail, I won't have to face the only other family I have left,' but even as the words formed in his head, he knew that the guys outside waiting for him were his family, and that even though Minmei was blood, and she was a part of his dad that he missed so much, she was still just a stranger to him. He almost resented Donald for telling him, because it was not something he had ever thought possible. He was mad because it ruined the vision he had of his dad, but in a way, he was also grateful because it helped him see that Pop was a person too, capable of failures like the rest of us.

With a determined sigh, Rick decided he had enough of his self-pity and that today was really a day to be happy about. He was being commissioned as an officer in the UN Spacey, and he was getting to share the day with many of his friends, guys he would willingly lay his life on the line for, and down if need be. He smiled, the decision to have a good was with him, and he decided it was going to be a great day.

He swung the door open and everyone looked to him, surprised by the flourish with which he entered the room, "So ladies, are you all ready to go and become full-fledged badasses?"

Alan rolled his eyes; Max smiled his wry smile, while everyone else concurred with boisterous and raucous agreement.

Eyeing the group of friends he was about to duel death and fate with, "So what do you say you apes, do you want to live forever? Let's go graduate because I know I'm done with books." A laugh filled the room, and Rick felt a bit better, the tension was out now, but he hated the joyous looks in his friend's eyes as he knew that in a way he was lying to them. That by keeping them in the dark, he was endangering all their lives, and for that he felt guilt stronger than any he had felt before.

The man stood some distance away from the graduation stand. It was still early, and he had time to wait before the device needed to be planted, but he was having an issue as to where the best spot to put it was. The podium was like any other, a stand with a lot of chairs on it and a curtain hanging down, but he was finding that in order to have the blast kill the VIP's he would need to have it as close to the front as possible, and that was made rather impossible.

He started toward the platform, slowly at first, because his engineering uniform was not going to allow him to dawdle for too long on the site before someone told him to clear out. Right now all that was around the area were MP's and they were only halfheartedly patrolling; he just needed to make sure that he got under the stand as the last MP was just walking by, the ensure he had ample time.

It didn't take long for him to arrive at the back of the podium and slip under it unseen; the MP who had just walked by was not seemingly too worried about much of anything. A quick look around proved his worry. There was very few places he could rig up his device where the blast would go skyward, or towards all the people on the stage, without spending too much time trying to find other materials to assist him. He stopped near a beam and looked up. 'If only this damn thing were magnetized I could attach it to this beam and walk away, no problems,' but he ruefully reflected on the notion that would have been too easy. "_And nothing about working for the colonel has turned out to be easy_," the man thought.

It had been a simple thing to say yes to the offer, but everything after that had turned out to be even more than he had ever anticipated in his life. First they had told him he needed to die, and step one in this process was to break into his own apartment and smash the place up. It hadn't taken too much; he had been living in a tiny box of an apartment anyhow. What shocked him was that it was his blood that had used in cementing his own death. The police, he knew, would never look too hard into a case where the man who was dead had been dishonorably drummed out of the armed forces. Even more shocking was they had taken not just enough blood for this, but had completely replaced all the blood in his body. In addition to plastic surgery for a new nose and chin, new fingerprints, changed his voice, and even gone so far as to inject a DNA changing mutagen that would make any attempt to test his identity via blood impossible. It had not been an easy or cheap affair, and he reckoned that was why he was out here, doing a few "menial tasks" as the colonel had put it. He had no idea the "menial tasks" would be murder of political figures and important dignitaries when he agreed to the procedure.

He was still mulling over his options when a noise from behind stopped his heart.

"Hey bud, what the hell are you doing down here," a guard asked him.

The man weighed his options carefully and moved his hand to his pocket where he kept a blade. It wasn't longer than three inches but he knew he could throw it with stunning accuracy and it was as sharp as a razor.

"Sorry, sir," he started out, "my names Jones, I was just asked to come over here and make sure that the beams here are strong enough." He knew his lie was weak, but he was hoping the man would believe it. He hadn't counted on anyone interrupting him. He just knew that now was when he either really proved his value, or ended up back in a jail cell.

'NO!' His mind screamed in mental fury, 'You aren't going back to prison or jail even if it's for a day for any reason!' It was now an idea came to him. The guard would be perfect. A calm smile crossed his face, and the guard, eyeing the stranger suspiciously, noticed a change in his body language.

"Uh-huh, right, metal beams for support, and you-" The guard never got to finish his sentence as the stranger closed the distance between the two and, before the MP had a chance to make a sound or draw his weapon, the stranger landed a blow to the guard's throat, crushing his windpipe and silencing him for the foreseeable future.

The stranger pulled out his blade and jabbed it deep under his victim's chin, feeling the poor man tense, and then go limp in his arms. Then he pulled a compression wrap from his pocket and wrapped it around the wound to stop the blood and before long had cuffed the man to the beam with zip ties. He looked at the body before him, wondering what was next, but he knew what would make the most sense. Getting a solid grip on the knife, he knelt down before the man and plunged the knife deep into his gut, and drew across his belly, opening a gash six inches long.

'That should be enough,' he though as he pulled off his pack and retrieved the small explosive device. He looked at it for a moment and couldn't believe this would be enough to cause an explosion large enough to wipe out the occupants of the podium, and in some cases the people in the front row. He found he wasn't repulsed by the idea of murdering so many people, he found the idea rather exhilarating now. It was this same institution that had robbed him of his future that now had him rob others of theirs.

"Life's a bitch," he said with a rueful smile as he shoved the device into the poor man, hearing a groan from the man, "but I guess you know that, now, don't you?" He laughed at the situation; here he was, shoving a bomb into a dying man, so he could murder dozens more. It was either great for his new profession that he was not concerned with how he felt, or terrible that his loss of humanity was so quick.

'Fuck it,' he said to himself as he wrapped another bandage over the wound. 'It was a good thing they made me keep these, all the damn work they did on me, they never knew when I could spring a leak.' Wiping his hands on the grass and the MP's uniform, he stood up and looked around. Thankfully the curtain hanging down had obscured everything, or he assumed he would have been arrested on sight by now. Deciding that it would also serve to leave the pack there, he checked his pocket for his phone and upon making sure it was there, he turned and walked away from the dying man now loaded with high grade explosives. The stranger couldn't help but smile at his handiwork.

"Not bad for your first time, Bob, not bad at all," the stranger laughed again. This time he could feel himself stretch and break now; he knew that he was committed to what he had done and who he was becoming. One thought kept pounding in his head: "_it isn't my problem anymore. They pushed me to become this monster._"

AN: KT wrote this one; he's BACK! I edited. Hope you like, and review.


	16. Baptism By Fire

_**Chapter XVI**_

Rick caught sight of Lisa as they, along with the rest of the 4,500 other soon-to-be junior officers of the newly-created UN Spacey force, herded along towards the athletic field for commencement. She chuckled dryly at him as he ran over, saying, "I see you had a wardrobe malfunction, Rick."

He stared momentarily, wondering what she was talking about, and then grinned as she motioned to his necktie and began to fix it. "Well, darlin'," he drawled, "I reckon you can dress me up, but ya can't take me anywhere."

"We'll work on the first part now, and worry about the rest tonight, once we've settled into our quarters," Lisa said with a wink and a kiss.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd suspect you were planning on some fraternizin', there, Lt. Hayes," Rick joked.

"Absolutely, Lt. Hunter," she replied. "Now, c'mon, let's not be late to the first day of the rest of our lives."

"I was thinking, actually," Rick said. "This is more like the third act; act one was our life before the service; act two started when you got me to go on stage in ROTC with you."

Lisa smiled at him, and chuckled, "You may be right about that. Let's get on with the show, then."

The walk towards the stands passed in a surreal slow-motion; the warm weather, the bright sun, the light breeze, all cast a feeling of unreality on the event. Rick looked over at the guys he'd be flying with, and their relaxed expressions. Ben, Rodney, and Alan were all smiles, laughing and slapping each other on the back; it all seemed to flow in molasses-coated slow motion, watching their arms and bodies move as under a strobe light.

He tried assuming the same nonchalance as they walked into the rising sun, towards the grandstands and their new-dawning future. He looked up at the SDF-1, as their new vessel was christened, and smiled; life was going to be fun, if nothing else. A new ship, a new mission, and good friends to face it with; life was going to be fun, indeed.

As that thought crossed his mind, the Trio hove into view and attached themselves to their men. Kim's smile nearly drowned her face when Ben took her hand, and Sammie nearly leaped into Rodney's arms. Vanessa was more reserved, but Alan made up for her shyness; he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her into the air, kissing her passionately and twirling around, all three couples oblivious to the mad rush of early-adulthood humanity swarming around them.

Rick and Lisa shared a secret, furtive look that expressed their distaste for keeping secrets from their friends, but realizing that what they were doing was a direct order, and an order is an order, even more so when it comes from family.

Admiral Donald Hayes wiped his forehead with the handkerchief he always kept in his left suit pocket, gold and black, in memory of his old squadron, hell, if he was honest, it was in memory of Pops Hunter and all of his old friends from 'Nam. He reviewed the speech he was about to deliver; he'd delivered a lot of commencement speeches over the years, but never before such an auspicious new turn in human history, and definitely not for his daughter.

Once Senator Russo and the Academy Commandant finished their "lectures" as he mentally derided them, he rose stiffly and stepped towards the podium facing the sea of newly-minted officers as a fresh sea breeze swept over them all, smelling sweet and hinting of the salt it held.

"Good morning," he began. "I know you didn't get all dressed up just to listen to me talk," he smiled and heard a few appreciative, if humoring, chuckles, "so I'll keep it short and to the point; you've had enough lectures from your instructors.

"I want to congratulate you all on your journey so far, and admit to a certain jealousy about your road ahead. You all are the next wave of explorers, taking on the unknown with a tall ship and a star to steer her by. We know, of course, that we are not alone out there in space, so you will make contact with others and try to form friendships where possible, but defend us if necessary.

"'I wish like hell I could be goin' with you,' to use a line from one of my favorite actors," he said, earning a few more indulgent chuckles. "But I don't wish to get in the way of what you all are about to accomplish. The time is yours, the stars are yours. Now go find them. You are the best of the best; for every graduate I see today, there are ten who didn't make the cut. Remember to honor your traditions of home, but not our differences. While you are on your ship, in your new home, remember that there is no race other than humanity, no culture other than the service, and no home other than Earth. Your diversity is your strength; draw on each other as you would draw on your own families, because from this moment on, you are a new family. Serve proudly, and serve well."

So saying, Admiral Hayes took a step back from the lectern and drew to full attention, then saluted the ship's company. Holding it crisply, every new officer stood as one and returned it; every service member in attendance returned it as well, some, who had served with the Admiral for the better part of thirty years or more, with tears in their eyes. Lowering his hand slowly, he executed a perfect about face and marched back to his seat on the dais.

The Commandant, in his role of Master of Ceremonies, announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen of the first commencement class of this Robotech Academy, stand at attention."

As they formed ranks one final time, the air raid siren drowned out the Commandant's words as he was about to announce the end of the festivities. At the same time, a massive explosion ripped through the center of the grandstand, obliterating an entire bloc of cadets, mostly from the Engineering and Sciences divisions. Frantic voices yelled, "All pilots to your posts, all squadrons in the air. Enemy attack coming in from north by northwest, bearing 000-5-6. Scramble!"

In the shadow of an alien air armada flying overhead, the Commandant spoke one last time, struggling to the lectern. Massive bleeding was evident all over his white dress uniform as he gave one final command. "All officers to your posts; defend the ship and this island at all costs." Then he pitched backwards on the deck, apparently dead.

Rick gathered up his squad and took command of his immediate scene of action. Some of the "Ben, Max, block anyone that gets in your way. We gotta get to the flight deck. Lisa and the ladies are already headed to the bridge. This boat is a sitting duck without air support."

Max spoke up, "What about the Admiral and the dignitaries?"

"Yeah, I think their security detail is occupied at the moment," Alan said.

Balloon-shaped pods filled the skies as the commencement ceremony burned in mute testimony of the lives of their fallen classmates who would experience neither the honor nor the joy of serving in space. Rick made a decision as explosions sprang up across the island. "Alan, Rodney, see to it that Admiral Hayes is safe and secured in the evac shuttle, then join us. Max, Ben, with me; let's see who we can get to ride the fire with us."

A bland, eminently forgettable-faced man with dark hair and darker shades, wearing a pilot's flight suit, ran forward. "Lt's Hunter, Sterling, and Dixon? I'm Captain Smith, Commander Fokker's second. With me, please. Commander Fokker is looking for you."

Rick looked at Max and Ben, all sharing a look of confusion, but forgot it as the urgency sank in and they ran hell-for-leather for their fighters.

Alan and Rodney made it to the dais where the dignitaries were last seen, picking their way past the shattered remains of steel and wood that once were simple yet effective structures and now were impediments to rescue and medical treatment. Hurling debris out of their paths in the same way they used to brush aside the Navy's defensive linemen, they tunnel a path towards the last known position of Admiral Hayes.

Rodney saw a flash of white against Navy blue. "Over here, bro," he yelled toward Alan, approximately 30 feet away. "I got him over here."

Donald lay on the ground, stunned, holding a white handkerchief to his head. "I'm okay, Lieutenant," he managed weakly. "Just a light graze to the head. I'll be fine. Get to your post, and that's an order!"

Rodney tossed him a cocky grin, "Sorry, sir, I'm following other orders. First, I'm getting you to safety, then I'll get up there."

Alan came over with a length of canvas, and they carefully loaded the admiral into the improvised body sling, carrying him carefully across the littered ground.

"Hey, you," a voice cried out. "You doing good over there?"

"We're fine," Alan responded, "but we've got a wounded officer here!"

"Hang on, buddy," the voice called over a distant, but near-deafening explosion. "Medevac shuttles're on the way; get him over here. We have triage set up."

Alan and Rodney struggled with the weight of the older man between them, but managed to walk the 50 yards or so to the triage area. A dark skinned man with a tan uniform with a red cross and an authoritative bearing waved them over. "Careful, boys, we'll take him from here," he grinned. "Thanks for the assist."

The triage area was littered with a dozen wounded dignitaries and a handful of soldiers; half of them bore signs of injuries, with bandaged arms and heads to tell tales of injury and horror.

"You're welcome, Doc," Alan said, then looked up at the sky, which had gradually grown darker and darker due to the dense formation of the alien armada. "Looks like rain, let's get these guys inside one of those nearby buildings."

"Wait a minute," came a nasal whine from an officer Alan had never seen before, "Who the hell put you in charge? I'm in command here, Lieutenant, I outrank you."

Alan shot the man a look that said, "If you're the leader, then shut up and lead," before saying, "By all means, Colonel…" He looked at the pompous man's nametag. "Burns. What do you think we should do, then, _sir_?" He bit the last word out like an insult.

The colonel seemed to shake a little in his boots as he assessed the situation and the rapidly darkening sky, and stuttered, "G-g-ge-ge-get into the building at once!"

Alan shot an exasperated look at Rodney, who turned to the infantrymen and bellowed out an amused, "You heard the man, that's an order!"

Alan crossed himself as the small party ran into the nearest three story building, what could have begun life as a professional building for doctors and dentists, but now was a shell of its former self, hauling stretchers and slings in multiple trips. As the colonel radioed for an update on the medevac shuttles, Alan looked around for defensive points, reinforced areas, but saw only a few apertures where they could return fire from, and with the light infantry weapons available to them inside the building, it wouldn't be very effective. The enemy was over 200 yards away, but that didn't mean anything; he knew on a battlefield, it was a distance that could be swiftly covered.

Rodney was doing the same sweep Alan was, then peeked out the window. He saw an anti-aircraft missile battery that was out of commission, on account of the three man crew being killed by shrapnel. "Alan, cover me," he said, pointing to the missile battery. "I'm gonna get that thing cranked up and see if I can take one of those pods out."

Alan nodded, selecting the heaviest weapon in the small arsenal available, a grenade launcher, and concealed his lanky form behind a rubble pile near the window. "On three, I'm firing. Once the first one's headed downtown, peel outta here and crank up that battery," Alan said, handing him a radio before aiming for the hip joint of the nearest balloon pod. "Keep in touch on channel three. I'll join you shortly."

Rodney tensed like a racehorse at the gate and grunted, "One."

"Two."

"Three," they finished together as Alan touched off a round.

As the rocket raced out and made hard contact with the pod's hip, Rodney ran hell-for-leather to the missile battery's control bunker. Alan cheered as he saw the warhead rip through layers of armor and shear the pod's leg off, sending it tumbling towards the ground and sending up a large dust cloud and shower of sparks and flame as its engine cracked and exploded. The pod remained, damaged though it was, but it was out of the fight as far as moving anywhere was concerned.

Unfortunately, a second pod, apparently patrolling with the first, noticed what happened to its partner and spotted Alan's spot in the abandoned building. "Oh, shit," Alan said, rapidly cycling a second round into the launcher. He aimed again and pulled the trigger.

The second shot made an even larger explosion than the first. Alan resolved to check the type of ammunition he'd selected when he heard Rodney give out a loud "Huzzah!" and looked up to see Rick's fighter streaking back towards the skies, dipping its wings in a salute to the fallen foe.

"Rodney, you got that battery up yet," Alan radioed.

"Almost, dude," Rodney replied. "One more second…"

Alan's attention was distracted for a moment as he saw a much smaller ball of flame about 20 yards away. "The first medevac bird just went down, Rod. How much longer till you get those rods hot?"

"Just got it, Al," Rodney replied. "We got a big green ugly coming in from the East, about 20 klicks out. I'm gonna take it."

"Ok, Rod. Let's get these casualties out of here."

"Roger that, Alan. Once we get them clear, we should probably head up and help Rick and the guys."

"Makes sense. Make 'em jump."

Rodney used the guidance system to target what he assumed were the engines of the new ship coming into range. He waited until the targeting computer's lock tone went from a series of beeps to one long buzz, then fired the battery's compliment of missiles. The engines on the large enemy ship shuddered and blew apart under the impact and sub-atomic explosions that followed from the scores of missiles that made contact with it.

Alan ran forward to meet Rodney, chuckling, "You always knew how to liven up a party," he remarked.

"Yeah, now we should get up there with Rick and the squadron; they'll need our help," Rod said by way of reply.

"A few minutes more, Rod," Alan urged. "The admiral needs to get taken out of here; Rick gave us a specific order to save him. The birds are almost here."

Rodney looked at the next wave of incoming ground pounders and sighed. At least the big green ship went down without a fight; who knows what kind of damage it could have done? As it stood, the balloon pods were devastating enough; an eighth of the city was already on fire. The three shuttles were screaming in on an emergency vector, sirens wailing; they should be there in three minutes or so, assuming no rude interlopers decided to visit.

As that thought crossed his mind, three more pods came into view, the vanguard of the next wave. "You gotta be kidding me," Rodney exclaimed. "It's like they spawn from nowhere; the sky is dark as night with them!"

"If those green things are any suggestion," Alan said, "they seem to have vastly superior numbers."

"Thanks, professor," Rod remarked. "I had no idea, really. Now how do you suppose we deal with that particular issue?"

"Think that ones' weapons still work," he asked, pointing to the pod he'd dropped.

"Possible. It could even out the odds a bit, too," Rodney replied. They trotted over to the pod to try and commandeer the weapons. What they saw when they got there blew their minds…

AN: I'm back, and so is KT- he's handling the next chapter. Enjoy.


End file.
